


Go With It

by Mooifyourecows



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Fluff and Humor, M/M, a little bit of smut, and daichi is too pure and good for this universe, as usual, bad habits with good results, daisugaweek2018 prompts, i haven't written all of them yet so i don't know how to tag this, sorry - Freeform, suga is basically a menace
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-20
Updated: 2018-08-26
Packaged: 2019-06-29 03:33:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 25,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15721116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mooifyourecows/pseuds/Mooifyourecows
Summary: “So? Does that satisfy your curiosity?“Curiosity satisfied.” Sugawara gave a firm nod.Daichi couldn’t help but let his lips curve into a rueful smile and he started to stand.“But—” Sugawara’s hand flashed out and he grabbed the front of Daichi’s shirt. “I’m now aware of something else that is painfully unsatisfied.”Daichi gulped. “And what’s that?”Sugawara’s tongue licked over his bottom lip and his gaze turned hooded.“You’ve probably already got an idea, yeah?” His other hand slipped under Daichi’s shirt and stroked up over his abdomen. “So let’s just go with that.”He was teasing him.But Daichi couldn’t find the energy inside him to care about a little teasing when Sugawara Koushi was lying beneath him on his bed, encouraging him to finally make a move.~~My prompts for DaiSugaWeek2018~





	1. Habits

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Suga has a bad habit.  
> But Daichi seems to be the only one suffering from it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let Day 1 of DaiSugaWeek2018 begin~

He called it a habit.

Daichi wasn’t so sure.

Forgetfulness?

Yeah.

Bad timing?

Definitely.

Habit?

Honestly that was probably giving his best friend a little too much credit.

But should he humor him and agree that this thing Sugawara did was merely a _habit_ and not an instrument of pure unadulterated torture, it would be remiss of Daichi to say that it wasn’t at least a _bad_ one.

It was something that always ended in Daichi’s humiliation, after all.

But not this time. Daichi was determined to make this time different.

“Did you remember everything?” Daichi asked as he walked Sugawara to the front door of his house.

“Yup!” Sugawara sat in the entrance and pulled on his shoes.

“Are you sure? Your notes? Your books? Your calculator?”

“Jeez, Daichi, we checked like six times now. I’ve got everything.” He smiled at him over his shoulder, making Daichi’s stomach do flips. “You worry too much.”

Daichi crossed his arms over his chest and leaned on the wall. “Says the guy who forgets something in my room _every_ time he comes over. I swear to god you do it on purpose.”

Sugawara chuckled and stood. He adjusted the strap of his book bag on his shoulder and cocked a thick grey eyebrow.

“Now why on _earth_ would I do that?”

Daichi hummed. “To drive me insane, probably.”

Sugawara snorted and opened the door. “Yeah, because when I get home after a long day of school, practice, and studying, there’s nothing I want to do more than make an extra trip _all_ the way back to your house- at _night-_ just to tick _you_ off.” He smirked. “You found me out, Daichi. I really, truly, have no life outside of you.”

Daichi rolled his eyes and pushed away from the wall. “Alright, alright. Get home safe.”

“I will,” Sugawara sang and took a step outside.

“And if you get home and realize you forgot something, just text me and I’ll bring it to school tomorrow!” Daichi called.

Sugawara poked his head back inside the house. “Oh, but then that would ruin my super important scheme to come back over here in half an hour and bug you some more.”

“Good _night,_ Suga.”

“G’night, Daichi.” The door closed on a giggle and Daichi let out a sigh and walked back up the hall to the stairs.

“Did Koushi-kun leave?” His mother appeared in the doorway to the kitchen.

“Yeah,” he said and stood on the bottom step. “He said thanks for the snacks earlier.”

She pursed her lips and glanced towards the front door. “You didn’t walk him home?”

Daichi leaned against the banister. “Should I have?”

“Well it’s so late…”

“Suga’s a man, Mom. He doesn’t need an escort home.”

“Oh but—”

“Besides, then _I’d_ be walking home alone in the dark. Shouldn’t you be more worried about your son?”

She waved a hand and scoffed, “Oh, no one would try to kidnap you.”

Daichi cocked an eyebrow. “And why not?”

She waved the hand again and evaded the question. “And Koushi-kun is so cute and polite and he seems so gentle and trusting… I just worry about him getting taken advantage of.”

There were a million examples that Daichi could give to his mother of Sugawara Koushi being anything but gentle and polite and the type to get taken advantage of, but not wanting to shatter her rose colored glasses of the boy she never failed to fawn over every time he came over, Daichi merely said, “He’ll be fine,” and left it at that.

“Well…” she said, clasping her hands worriedly and peeking back at the front door. “Alright then. But I wish you would have just insisted that he spend the night.”

“It’s a school night.”

“That’s alright!”

“He’ll be okay,” Daichi assured her again. “Don’t worry about him. He’s tougher than he looks.”

“Yeah… but he’s so _cute_ …”

Daichi sighed and turned to slowly start up the stairs. “Being cute has nothing to do with it, Mom. He can—”

“Oh so you agree? You think he’s cute?”

Daichi’s face flamed and he cast a withering glare over his shoulder at his smirking mother as she covered her mouth with a hand.

“I’m taking a shower and going to bed,” he said, voice firm, not leaving any room for more teasing.

Not that that ever stopped her in the past, and it didn’t stop her now.

“A _cold_ shower?”

“ _Good night!_ ” Daichi thundered up to the second floor, tuning out the sounds of his mother’s laughter behind him.

He went to his bedroom first and did another once over for anything that Sugawara might have forgotten. When he found nothing, he flopped down on his bed and stared up at the ceiling.

He would wait.

Just for a little while.

It was usually on his trip home when Sugawara realized that something was missing. And instead of sending him a quick text, asking him to bring it to school the next day or even just warning him that he was on his way back, Sugawara turned around and showed up, perfectly timed to walk in on him in a compromising position. Because on top of having awful timing and this forgetful “habit” of his, Sugawara Koushi also never knocked.

Ever.

He swore he was one more accidental naked encounter away from absolutely falling off the face of the earth in humiliation.

Honestly there had to be some troublesome trickster god out there living his best life, making Daichi’s miserable for his own amusement. It was bad enough that Daichi was pathetically pining after his best friend so hard and so obviously that even _Kageyama_ patted his shoulder and gave him a pitying glance at practice last week when he caught him watching Sugawara stretch. It was mortifying enough that even _Tsukishima_ mumbled, “I’m sure it’s nothing,” to him when a girl showed up at the gym asking to speak with Sugawara.

It was depressing enough that everyone, _everyone_ knew about Daichi’s one sided, dead end crush on his best friend and there was no way that he didn’t also know but the fact that he never said a word about it meant that he didn’t care and he didn’t feel the same way and Daichi was alone with these feelings that would never, _ever_ go anywhere.

Daichi groaned and rolled onto his side. He realized this problem of his was inconsequential in the grand scheme of the universe. He liked a guy that didn’t like him back. The vast majority of the human population suffered from such heartbreak at least once in their life. It wasn’t the end of the world. Eventually, Daichi would recover. He would move on. Maybe he’d meet someone new to pine hopelessly after. Maybe he’d go through these same motions dozens of times before he finally met the one that could unabashedly return his feelings. It was all a part of life and growing up.

Daichi logically knew this.

But it didn’t make it less painful that _this_ love would probably never make it off the ground.

It didn’t make the desperate emotions he felt for a guy that couldn’t return them any less real and agonizing.

Daichi sighed and pulled his cell phone from the pocket of his sweatpants.

There was nothing he could do about it.

Those were words that made his jaw ache to think and his tongue sting to say. But it was the truth. Sawamura Daichi hated to admit defeat, and always believed that there was something, anything, that he could do to get his foot in the door. When he struggled in school, he fixed it. When he struggled on the volleyball court, he fixed it. When he struggled with his rowdy kouhai, he fixed _them._

But Sawamura Daichi didn’t know how to fix his struggle over love. How was he supposed to fix the fact that the person he was in love with didn’t feel the same way? He couldn’t force Sugawara to look at him in a way that he didn’t want to look at him. And though Sugawara had never had any sort of relationship with any girls in the past, it didn’t mean that he wasn’t interested in them.

So, though it made his stomach churn and his throat constrict to admit it, there was nothing he could do about it.

He lay in bed playing on his phone for another half hour before he finally decided it was safe to shower. It was only about a ten minute walk from Daichi’s to Sugawara’s house, and Sugawara usually decided he needed to return upon minutes after arriving home, which meant that twenty to thirty minutes after he left his house was in the red zone for the possibility of another unexpected appearance. Enough time had passed now that Daichi was fairly- about seventy-five percent- certain that he was in the clear and Sugawara wouldn’t be intruding on his night.

He took his time in the shower, knowing that the more time that passed, the less likely a surprise visit would occur. And half an hour later, his certainty of being in the safe zone was at a comfortable ninety-five percent.

He didn’t bother dressing before making the trip back to his room, toweling off his hair idly as he passed the doorway of his younger siblings’ room.

“Nii-chan, put some clothes on!”

“Yeah, yeah,” he mumbled as he went back into his room and closed the door behind. He tossed the towel he was using for his hair onto his desk chair and pulled open the drawer to his dresser. He hummed and ran through the equations he had spent the entire duration of his and Sugawara’s study session memorizing as he fished out a pair of navy boxer briefs.

He removed the towel wrapped around his waist and tossed it with the other one before stepping one foot into the underwear. He was just about to place his other foot inside when suddenly the slam of the door bursting inwards erupted across the room, followed by a cheerful,

“Daichi I forgot my—”

“ _Ahhhh!_ ” Daichi frantically tried to pull his boxers up, but the elastic caught on the toe of his left foot and he lost his balance. He plummeted to the floor on his rear, pain shooting up his tailbone. He quickly covered his naked groin with both hands, underwear still around his feet, and looked over his shoulder.

Sugawara stood just inside the room, one hand over his mouth, which was obviously stretched wide in a grin.

“Oh, sorry, did I come at a bad time?” he asked, feigning innocence.

“You bastard! Get the fuck out!” Daichi snapped, forcing his anger and irritation to drown out the humiliation of being caught, once again, with his pants around his ankles.

Sugawara crossed his arms over his chest and cocked his hip to the side, still staring relentlessly at him.

“You know, you don’t have to be _rude_ , Daichi.”

“Close the door!”

Sugawara stretched a leg out behind him, hooked his toes on the door, and shut it without taking his eyes off of Daichi.

“No,” Daichi groaned. “Get out. Then close the door.”

“Can’t. See I forgot my—”

“I told you to just text me and I would bring it tomorrow,” Daichi said wearily, anger subsiding and embarrassment growing with every second he sat buck naked on his bedroom floor with his hands over his dick.

“Well that’s the thing,” Sugawara went on. And he was still staring. His gaze didn’t even waver as he leapt into a longwinded explanation. “The thing I left was my phone. So I couldn’t text you. And I kinda need it anyway since it’s got my alarm on it and also it’s about to die so I need to charge it so I can use it tomorrow after practice to call my mom about that dentist appointment I have next week so she can reschedule it for two weeks from now and you may be wondering why I don’t just tell her when I get home, right? Well that’s because she’s working the night shift and won’t be home until I’m already at school tomorrow but I can’t wait to ask her when I see her in person next because she works the evening shift tomorrow so she won’t be home when I get there and if I don’t reschedule my appointment at _least_ a week in advance, we’ll get charged a cancellation fee.”

Daichi sat in silence for a moment before letting out a deep breath.

“Will you look away so I can get dressed?”

“Why can’t you just get dressed while I’m looking?”

Daichi gulped. “It’s embarrassing. So turn around.”

“Why is it embarrassing?” Sugawara cocked an eyebrow and he was teasing him.

Daichi knew he was teasing him. But he was too flustered and mortified to properly handle it so he continued to sit there, trying to ignore the fact that he probably looked like a complete loser, holding his junk like it would escape if he released it.

“I shouldn’t have to explain to you why it’s embarrassing getting walked in on while I’m ass naked.”

“It’s not like I’ve never seen it before.” Sugawara’s amusement was growing by the second. Daichi could see it in the scrunch of his nose and the tight line of his lips as he tried to stop them from curling into a smile. “We change in front of each other all the time for practice. And we’ve taken baths together.”

“That’s different.”

“How?”

“For one thing, the rest of the team is there.” Daichi sighed. “And for another thing, I’m usually not the only one naked and being _stared_ at.”

“Okay but hear me out—”

“Fuck it,” Daichi muttered. He pulled his hands away and grabbed the waistband of his boxers. He yanked them up his legs in one swift motion, rocking forward onto his knees in order to pull them the rest of the way up to his hips.

“See? That wasn’t so hard. You made it way more awkward than it needed to be.”

“Oh shut up,” Daichi climbed to his feet. “Are you sure you left your phone here? I didn’t see it.”

“Well I didn’t have it when I got home and it wasn’t on the walk back over here, so I’m assuming it’s in this room.”

“Find it, then,” Daichi said and went to his dresser once more. He pulled the bottom drawer open and grabbed a fresh pair of sweatpants. He glanced over his shoulder and watched Sugawara move slowly around the room, hands in his pockets. He hummed cheerfully as his eyes slid over the floor and table in the center of the room. And Daichi could tell that he wasn’t searching seriously. He put zero effort into the action and eventually lifted his gaze to Daichi once more, a small smirk turning up the corner of his lips when their eyes met.

“Not gonna get dressed?”

Daichi turned away and pulled the pants on, face burning.

Just what was his deal?

Daichi had already had his suspicions that Sugawara did this on purpose. He knew that Daichi would bring him the things he forgot to him at school the next day and yet he always insisted on running right back over to his house to burst in when he was least welcome.

He had to be doing it on purpose.

This time seemed different though.

Sugawara was barely even pretending that he hadn’t planned this whole thing.

And Daichi was more than a little suspicious.

He fetched a shirt from the dresser and turned. “Did you find it?” he asked.

Sugawara hummed and sat on the edge of Daichi’s bed. “Nope.” He leaned on the heels of his hands and stared up at him.

Daichi gulped. “Keep looking,” he said and pulled the shirt over his head.

“Sounds like you’re trying to get rid of me, Daichi.”

He ran a hand through his hair and started searching the room. “Well it _is_ a school night. And I’m tired.”

_And if I look at you sitting on my bed for too much longer, I might just push you down._

Daichi lifted one of the floor pillows and tossed it aside before moving to the other.

“Yeah, but it’s not like there’s anything important going on tomorrow.”

“Except school. Practice. And that _super_ important phone call you gotta make about your dentist appointment.” Daichi crouched and looked under the table.

Sugawara sighed. “You’re such a grouch sometimes. Shouldn’t you be happy to spend more time with your best friend?”

_Not if I have to spend the entire time battling my own hormones._

Daichi stood and turned towards him.

“Sorry, Suga. I’m just not really in the mood to hang out tonight, I guess.”

Sugawara pouted his lips momentarily before straightening.

“Okay. Fine. You’re no fun.” He slipped his hand under the mattress and pulled out his cell phone. “I’ll just show myself out then.”

Daichi stared at the phone with wide eyes as Sugawara stood. He placed the phone in his pocket and let out a loud sigh.

“What a waste of a trip,” he whined and headed for the door. “Here I thought I’d get to play with you a little…”

“Hold up.” Daichi followed him across the room. “Did you… _hide your phone under my mattress_ just so you’d have an excuse to come back here tonight?”

Sugawara scoffed, “No, of course not.”

“You did!”

“See you tomorrow, Daichi!” Sugawara ripped the door open and ran out into the hall.

“Stop!” Daichi gave chase.

Sugawara let out a squeak and bolted for the stairs, sliding on his socks. Daichi thundered after him, the sounds of their heavy footfalls echoing through the house. Sugawara made it down the stairs and to the entrance before Daichi caught him. He grabbed him by the hips and spun him around before ducking down and dragging him onto his shoulder. He straightened and turned for the stairs once more and Sugawara laughed and knotted his hands in the back of his shirt.

“Daichi, what’s going on?” Daichi’s mother stood in the archway to the living room and watched them with wide eyes.

“Captain and Vice disciplinary meeting,” Daichi replied without missing a beat.

“Hello, Sawamura-san,” Sugawara greeted, words laced with giggles. “Thank you for your hospitality. The snacks earlier were really delicious.”

“Oh, you’re always welcome here, Koushi-kun,” she said. “Since it’s so late, why don’t you go ahead and spend the night?”

“You know what? That sounds lovely. I think I’ll go ahead and do—”

Daichi bounced him and he let out a gleeful laugh.

“Don’t stay up too late, boys,” his mother called after them and Daichi’s chest tightened.

Because what was he supposed to do with him now?

He didn’t have any sort of plan.

His mind was so totally focused on catching him and getting him back in his room that everything afterwards was a total mystery.

Just what was he supposed to say?

Daichi carried Sugawara up the stairs and into his room once more, kicking the door shut behind him. He set Sugawara on his feet and he stumbled back a few steps, giggling breathlessly.

“What the hell is going on, Suga?” Daichi asked. “Why did you hide your phone here?”

Sugawara straightened his hair. “It’s not that big of a deal, Daichi. I was just playing around.” He pulled off his jacket and turned for the bed. “So what are the sleeping arrangements for tonight? I don’t mind being the little spoon, so long as you promise not to drool on the back of my neck.” He jumped onto the bed and rolled next to the wall, looking back at Daichi. He patted the mattress with a smirk. “C’mon. We got school in the morning so we better make sure to get our full eight hours.”

Daichi eyed him quietly for a moment. He was wearing his tracksuit, but it was obvious that he had showered. His hair, though it was messy as usual, wasn’t the frizzy mop that it had been after practice. And Daichi had noticed when he tossed him on his shoulder that instead of sweat, the fresh scent of soap had filled his nose.

Sugawara had hidden his phone under Daichi’s mattress, gone home to shower, and then came back in time to catch him naked.

And was now spending the night.

Daichi knew how it _seemed_ , but the uncertainty of what it all truly meant was wrecking his mind.

“So you’re not going to tell me?” he finally said, using his best stern captain voice.

Sugawara’s lips pursed and he sat up. He slid to the edge of the bed and stretched his legs out across the floor.

“How about this?” He braced his hands on the mattress on either side of his hips. “You probably already got your own idea as to what the answer could be, right? Let’s just go with whatever it is and call it a night.”

Daichi gulped and said in a low voice, “You’re kidding yourself if you think I’ll just _call it a night_ if we go with what I think it is.”

Sugawara’s eyebrow ticked up and he straightened his shoulders.

“Well now I’m kinda curious to know why you think I did it.”

Daichi inhaled slowly and closed his eyes.

And he really must have been tired, because instead of cautiously skirting the conversation he had been keeping so delicately at an arm’s length for the past few years, he allowed his mouth to run.

“You really want to know?” he asked, eyes sliding open again.

Sugawara hesitated.

“Yeah. I do.”

“And we’re just going to go with it?”

“I said we would, didn’t I?”

Daichi swallowed. He moved forward, voice rough as he said, “Alright.” He crossed the room with slow languid steps, watching nervousness spread over Sugawara’s face. “You hid your phone under my mattress because you needed some kind of excuse to come back here.” He drew nearer and Sugawara leaned his head back to hold his stare when he loomed above. “You left it there, went home, showered, and came back. Somehow getting the timing perfectly to walk in while I wasn’t dressed.” He pressed a knee into the mattress to the right of Sugawara’s hip and leaned over him. “You did it because you were hoping that something like this,” Daichi gripped his chin in his hand and leaned further forward, laying him back on the bed, “would happen.”

Sugawara stared up at him with wide brown eyes, lips slightly parted.

Daichi rubbed his thumb over his bottom lip, watching color fill his cheeks.

He lowered his eyelids and deepened his voice to a low rumble.

“You took the risk of hiding your phone under my mattress, knowing that if I did to you what I _want_ to do to you… it’d probably wind up broken.”

Sugawara’s eyes widened even more and he let out a shaky breath.

“Hoooooly shit,” he whispered. “That was so fucking hot.”

Daichi released his chin and lifted slightly.

“So? Does that satisfy your curiosity?

“Curiosity satisfied.” Sugawara gave a firm nod.

Daichi couldn’t help but let his lips curve into a rueful smile and he started to stand.

“But—” Sugawara’s hand flashed out and he grabbed the front of Daichi’s shirt. “I’m now aware of something else that is painfully _unsatisfied_.”

Daichi gulped. “And what’s that?”

Sugawara’s tongue licked over his bottom lip and his gaze turned hooded.

“You’ve probably already got an idea, yeah?” His other hand slipped under Daichi’s shirt and stroked up over his abdomen. “So let’s just go with that.”

He was teasing him.

But Daichi couldn’t find the energy inside him to care about a little teasing when Sugawara Koushi was lying beneath him on his bed, _encouraging_ him to finally make a move.

Daichi pressed a hand to the side of his face and thumbed over his cheek. He leaned down and hesitated, hovering a centimeter over him. Their breath mingled, Sugawara’s hot, tickling Daichi’s lips.

Sugawara stared up at him for a second and then closed his eyes, giving the front of his shirt a tug.

Daichi’s heart hammered in his chest and he timidly pressed his lips to Sugawara’s.

It was slow, at first.

Both hesitant and unsure, their lips merely brushed together, tender and careful.

But then Sugawara’s chin lifted, his head cocked infinitesimally to the side, and he slotted their mouths together with more force.

Daichi lowered on top of him, bracing his weight on one arm. He trailed the fingers of his other hand down to his chin and broke the connection between their mouths. He smoothed his thumb over Sugawara’s bottom lip, gently coaxing his mouth open.

His kissed him again, slipping his tongue inside. He slid his hand down the side of his throat and then to his stomach, fingers spreading out over the taut muscles.

Sugawara let out a soft sound into Daichi’s mouth and hesitantly lapped at his tongue with his own, both hands under his shirt now digging his nails into his back.

And this really wasn’t how Daichi imagined his night to go.

Not that he was complaining.

It was shocking though. Daichi never expected to be like one of those heroines in his mother’s shoujo manga, one minute lamenting the sheer impossibility of his love being reciprocated, just to be thrown headfirst into a make-out scene with none other than the boy of his dreams an hour later.

Maybe it was the work of a trickster god out there somewhere who preferred the thrill of watching Daichi careen up and down the tracks of a rollercoaster rather than reveling in his stagnation in a pit of despair.

Whatever it was that placed Sugawara there beneath him, kissing him back and touching his skin, Daichi decided to just be grateful and not waste his time and energy questioning it.

He kissed down Sugawara’s jaw and across his throat, nudging his chin up for access to the delicate skin underneath. Sugawara’s breath was ragged and fast and he let out a soft moan.

“Daichi,” he whispered. “The light. Turn off the light.”

“Don’t wanna,” Daichi mumbled, sliding his lips up to his ear.

“But—” He shivered when Daichi nibbled on his earlobe. “Turn it off… so your mom thinks we’re asleep…”

A shot of adrenaline spiked through Daichi’s veins. He gave Sugawara another deep, hungry kiss on the mouth before pushing away and crossing the room on weak legs.

_Calm._

_Calm down._

_Relax._

_It’s cool._

_It’s fine._

_You’re just… having a hot and heavy make-out session with your best friend._

_No reason to freak out._

He flipped the light switch and cast the room in darkness. He used the sudden reprieve to take a deep breath and press his hand to his chest over his raging heart. It was okay. It was okay. Things were moving incredibly fast and Daichi never thought he’d be here now but… it was okay.

He turned back to the bed and blinked, urging his eyes to adjust to the dark. A soft glow from the window over the bed offered him light as he made his way slowly back. He could see the silhouette of Sugawara sit up and crawl into the bed properly and Daichi’s nerves spiked once more.

Sugawara was in his bed.

Holy shit Sugawara Koushi was in his bed and they were just making out and _holy shit_.

He hesitated at the side of the bed as Sugawara pulled the blanket up and slid underneath it. When he was settled, Daichi followed. He slipped under the blanket and instantly moved until his body was pressed right up against Sugawara’s, one arm circling his waist and pulling him into his chest. His mouth found his immediately and they picked up their desperate kissing once more, Sugawara’s hands splaying over Daichi’s chest.

Their legs tangled together and Sugawara rubbed against him, hips bucking into his and stirring up the burning heat in Daichi’s lower abdomen. Sugawara’s hand smoothed up Daichi’s chest and cupped his jaw. He pushed up on his other elbow and rolled Daichi to his back, sliding a leg between his thighs and crawling half on top of him.

One of Daichi’s hands found its way under Sugawara’s shirt and his fingers explored the curve of his spine. Sugawara broke the connection between their lips and shifted up momentarily, reaching behind him and grabbing the fabric of his shirt. He dragged it up and over his head, and Daichi held his breath and watched as he discarded the clothing and tossed it to the floor. Sugawara leaned back down and captured his mouth once more and Daichi eagerly spread his hands over his skin, pulse speeding.

He gripped his hip in one hand, fingers digging deep into his flesh, and then trailed it down over his ass and the back of his thigh. He pulled his leg up from between his and hooked it over his hip, nudging him until he fully straddled him, knees in the mattress.

Sugawara grabbed the hem of Daichi’s shirt and shoved it up to his collar. He curled up off of the mattress and allowed him to pull it the rest of the way off before lying back once more. Sugawara leaned down, holding his face in his hands, and kissed him hungrily, pressing their bare chests together and combining their body heat.

A long minute of their desperate grabbing and kissing passed and Sugawara eventually tore his lips away, lifting his chin as Daichi continued to plant hot, wet kisses down his throat.

“Daichi,” he said, breathless and soft. “I have… a confession to make…”

Daichi hummed, half concentrating on what he was saying and half concentrating on how his hands had finally gathered the courage to travel down over the seat of his pants and squeeze at the soft flesh of his bottom.

“You were right,” Sugawara went on. “About why… why I hid my phone.”

Daichi sucked on the side of his throat, struggling to contain the urge to leave a dark hickey on his pale skin.

“I wanted… was hoping… that you’d finally… break. And do this. Something like this. Exactly this.” He let out a groan when Daichi gripped him tight and ground their hips together.

And he should really be paying better attention to what Sugawara was saying. He was finally answering his questions, after all.

“Not just this time though,” Sugawara said and bucked against him. “Every time. I’ve been… forgetting on purpose… from the very beginning.”

Daichi’s lips faltered against the pulse point in Sugawara’s throat. He rested his head back on the pillow and stared up at him, panting softly.

“You have?” he asked in a low voice.

Sugawara nodded. “It’s been so obvious. How much you like me, I mean. I used to just think it was kinda cute and funny. I was just gonna tease you a little bit. But then… uhm… well…”

Daichi could see his blush grow, illuminated by the glow of the streetlamp through the window. He slowly smoothed his hands back up to the small of his back.

“It started out as curiosity,” Sugawara said, somewhat sheepishly. “I wondered what it’d be like… to kiss another guy. To kiss you. I was going to try and get you to do it. To kiss me. Just to see how it’d feel.”

Daichi gulped.

“It _started_ that way… but the more I thought about kissing you, the more I thought about doing _more_ … and the less it felt like _just_ curiosity.” Sugawara cleared his throat. “It became more like a full blown desire. Before I knew it, I liked you so hard that I was lying about forgetting things just so I could spend more time with you. And I had such good timing that I’d always get to peep on you changing. It was a good life.”

Daichi snorted.

“But you finally caught on and made it really difficult to leave something behind this time. I actually had to shove my cell phone under your mattress when you went to the bathroom just so I could make the excuse to come back tonight.”

He dwindled out and Daichi stared up at him quietly for a moment.

“Be my boyfriend.”

Sugawara’s lashes fluttered and he stiffened momentarily before relaxing again. He let out a laugh and leaned his forehead against his.

“Leave it to Sawamura Daichi to just say it so simply,” he whispered.

“It is simple,” Daichi insisted. “I like you. I want to be your boyfriend. And I want to do stuff like this all the time.”

Sugawara didn’t answer for a few seconds. Then he gently stroked Daichi’s cheek with his thumb.

“It’s that easy?”

“It’s that easy.”

Sugawara giggled and pressed a gentle kiss to his lips.

“Okay,” he whispered. “Then I’m yours.”

Daichi hummed low and knotted his fingers in the hair at the back of Sugawara’s head.

“ _Mine_ ,” he said, voice a growl. “I like the sound of that.”

“Me too…”

They kissed again, tongues meeting and tasting eagerly inside their mouths. Sugawara rubbed his hips against Daichi’s and Daichi slid a hand over his pants, squeezing his ass.

Sugawara suddenly broke away.

“Oh… but let’s wait a little while before telling your mom,” he said. “If we tell her tomorrow, she’ll know we were fooling around all night.”

“All night?” Daichi cocked an eyebrow.

Sugawara smirked.

“Well… it’s not like we have anything going on tomorrow…”

“Except school and volleyball practice and—”

“Shhhh…” Sugawara kissed him. “Let yourself be corrupted by your boyfriend every once in a while…”

Daichi melted with giddy pleasure over the use of the title.

He deepened their kissing again, hands exploring every centimeter of his boyfriend’s- _his boyfriend’s-_ body that he could reach. It wasn’t long until they were both desperate and breathless, tugging and pulling at one another, trying unsuccessfully to get _closer_.

“Daichi,” Sugawara panted into his lips, hands coasting down to his hips. “Let’s… let’s…” His fingers dug into the fabric of Daichi’s sweatpants. “Take—”

The muffled sound of footsteps froze them in place. They stared at each other quietly for a moment before both turning their eyes to the door across the room. Daichi held his breath, arms tightening around Sugawara’s waist. Sugawara ducked down against him, head half hidden in his neck. They stared at the light under the crack of the door as the footsteps drew nearer, and nearer…

And then stopped.

They waited, Daichi’s entire life flashing before his eyes as he imagined the swift death he would be given if his mother found Sugawara straddling him half naked in bed under _her_ roof.

Thirty seconds passed and the light from the hallway went out. The footsteps receded, eventually followed by the sound of a door closing and then silence.

Sugawara lifted his head.

“Safe,” he whispered. “Now take your pants off.”

“You’re crazy,” Daichi whispered back.

Sugawara kissed him dizzy and rutted into him. Daichi groaned and dug his nails into his sides, lifting his hips to meet the motion. Sugawara’s hands pushed impatiently at Daichi’s pants again and he didn’t try to stop him. Instead, he slipped his fingers under the waistband of Sugawara’s own pants and shoved them down. Sugawara lifted off of him and shimmied out of the clothes before forcefully dragging Daichi’s down to his ankles for him to kick off on his own.

“My Mom’s just two rooms over,” Daichi said in a low voice when Sugawara straddled him again.

“We’ll be quiet,” Sugawara promised.

“Do you know how?”

“I’m a fast learner.”

Daichi snorted, but before he could say another word, Sugawara was kissing him again, rocking against him.

Daichi swallowed a groan at the feeling of their erections sliding together through their boxers. He wanted the final barriers to be gone, to feel skin against skin, but his sense of responsibility warred with his hormones, reminding him that this was fast.

They were moving so fast.

And if he was able to think straight, he would probably be putting an end to their fooling around. He would remove himself from the bed, sleep on the floor in order to resist the temptation that was his new- surprisingly _willing_ \- boyfriend.

But Daichi _couldn’t_ think straight. He could only think about how good it felt to have Sugawara’s tongue in his mouth, his hands on his body, his thighs straddling his hips, the hard length of his arousal rubbing against his. He could only think about how he had daydreamed of this very situation happening so many times before.

He thrust his hand into Sugawara’s boxers and instantly palmed his shaft.

Sugawara sucked in a sharp breath and eagerly followed his lead, lifting his hips up off of him to give himself access to the insides of Daichi’s underwear. Daichi let out a breathless moan and they both started stroking and working the other into a tingling, senseless mess. Sugawara leaned heavily against him, forehead pressed to his as he panted into his lips, eyes pinched shut. Daichi cupped the nape of his neck and rose to kiss him, hips twitching with the motion of Sugawara’s hand.

Sugawara broke the connection and moaned. “Ahh… Daichi…”

“Shhh…” Daichi hushed him when his voice rose too loud for comfort.

“Daichi,” he gasped. “Let’s go… let’s go all the way…”

“You’re crazy,” Daichi whispered. His thumb swiped over the head of Sugawara’s erection and he slicked the wetness that gathered there down his length.

“We can do it,” Sugawara whimpered. “I’ll be quiet—”

“You’re not even being quiet now.” Daichi’s hand slid around and pressed over Sugawara’s mouth.

Sugawara released another moan, muffled against Daichi’s palm. His right knee slid up and tucked to his ribs. He grinded his hips forward, chasing Daichi’s hand when it slid up his shaft.

Daichi stared up at him, a tight knot of heat and frustration roiling in the pit of his stomach both from the desperate pumping of Sugawara’s hand around his arousal and the sight of him above him, eyes squeezed shut, eyebrows knit together, Daichi’s hand over his mouth. It was such an erotic display that the pleasure building inside of him spiked suddenly and he feared he was on the very cusp of full-on release.

Sugawara was breathing loud, high pitched whines into his palm and the lewd sounds were pure torture. Every stroke of his hand pushed him closer and closer to the edge. Sugawara was so vocal and hungry with his body that Daichi had no idea how close he was, how much longer he would last.

Daichi groaned and pushed his head back in the pillow.

“ _Fuck_. Suga…”

Sugawara’s eyes cracked open, hazy with pleasure.

Daichi bit down on his bottom lip and let out a breathless moan.

“Slow down,” he whispered. “I’m not gonna last.”

Sugawara’s eyes widened and he gave a rough thrust into Daichi’s hand, body shaking with a muffled cry. Hot wetness spilled onto Daichi’s skin and he sucked in a sharp breath, no longer able to keep the pressure from overwhelming him. He pulled his hand away from Sugawara’s mouth and closed their lips together before Sugawara’s whimpering breaths could gain volume. He lifted his hips and bucked sloppily into Sugawara’s grip, ushering forth his own orgasm and thrusting his tongue inside Sugawara’s mouth as he found his release.

Sugawara collapsed on top of him and tore his lips away to bury his face in the pillow next to his head. They both panted, open mouthed and weak, as their hearts raced in time. Daichi didn’t know how long they lay there, lost in the heady euphoria of their orgasms. He wasn’t sure he was still even awake until Sugawara finally moved, pulling his hand up out of Daichi’s boxers and pushing up on one elbow above him.

Daichi blinked, slow, and sleepy, up into his face. His hair flopped over his forehead, hiding one eye from view, and his cheeks were flushed with rosy color, lips parted and plump with the remnants of their kisses.

Sugawara licked his top lip and whispered,

“Give me five minutes and I’ll be ready for round two.”

“You’re crazy.”

Daichi rolled him onto his side, planted a soft kiss to his chin, and then crawled out of the bed.

“Where are you going?”

Daichi fetched a towel from his desk chair and cleaned himself up before returning to the bed and doing the same for Sugawara. He tossed the towel aside and slid back under the blanket, pulling Sugawara into his arms and kissing him sweetly on the lips.

“I can do more,” Sugawara said.

“Not tonight.” Daichi combed his fingers through his messy hair tenderly.

“But—”

“Sleep.” He tipped his chin up with a finger and nuzzled his nose. “Your captain commands it.”

“Good thing I don’t have to listen to my captain off the court—”

“Suga. If you don’t sleep, I’m moving to the floor.”

Sugawara huffed and pinched his left nipple.

“Fine,” he grumbled. “But only because I’m tired from all the stress you put me through tonight.”

“I put _you_ through stress?” Daichi cocked an eyebrow.

“Always.”

“You’re crazy.”

“I may be crazy, but I’m also yours. So you’re going to have to get used to it.”

Daichi smiled and kissed him, lips lingering for a long, soft moment.

“I can do that,” he whispered.

Sugawara peered up at him through locks of wild grey hair, lashes slowly batting over his sleepy brown eyes. He fidgeted, one hand sliding up Daichi’s chest to the side of his neck.

“Uhm,” his voice rasped and he cleared his throat. “Daichi… I, uh. I uhm…”

Daichi cupped his cheek in one hand.

“I love you, Suga.”

Sugawara inhaled a deep breath and closed his eyes. He let out a soft laugh and sighed. He opened his eyes again and smiled up at him.

“Leave it to Sawamura Daichi to say it so simply.”

“It is simple.”

Sugawara chuckled and ran his fingers through the hair at the back of Daichi’s neck.

“You’re right. I love you.”

* * *

 

“Have a good day at school!”

Daichi draped his bag over his shoulder and opened the front door while Sugawara waved to his mother.

“Thanks for letting me stay over, Sawamura-san!” he said cheerfully, flashing her a bright smile.

“Of course! Come over any time, Koushi-kun,” she called back.

“Bye Mom. See you later.” Daichi took Sugawara’s hand and pulled him outside.

They walked down the path to the sidewalk and turned in the direction of Sugawara’s house.

“Your mom’s such a good cook!” Sugawara said brightly, a slight bounce to his step. “Last time my mom cooked, I had food poisoning for a whole week. Maybe yours can give her lessons one day.”

“Do me a favor and make sure I’m around when you tell your mom that.” Daichi snorted. “Watching her kick your ass sounds entertaining.”

Sugawara laughed. “No way. I’m taller than her now so I can totally kick her ass instead.”

“Yeah but would you?”

“Hell yeah!”

Daichi let out a laugh.

“Sure you would.”

They bantered playfully for a few minutes before falling into a comfortable silence. Daichi glanced over at him and watched as he absently rubbed at his bare arms, humming under his breath.

Daichi pursed his lips and shrugged out of his jacket without a word.

“Here.” He held it out and Sugawara eyed it with a look of surprise.

“Such a gentleman!” Sugawara took it and pulled it on with a happy grin.

“Hm.” Daichi shoved his hands into his pockets. “What happened to yours?”

“Eh? Oh.” Sugawara popped the collar of Daichi’s jacket around his neck. “Looks like I forgot it in your room.”

He skipped forward and turned around, walking backwards ahead of him on the sidewalk. He let out a bright laugh, eyes crinkled happily and cheeks flushed pink.

“Guess I’ll have to come over after practice to get it!”

Daichi smiled ruefully and shook his head.

“You’re crazy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's that? Moo is writing smut on Day 1?  
> Excuse me while I reevaluate my entire life.  
> (Yes they're both consenting adults btw.)  
> This ended up being way longer than I anticipated.  
> RIP me...
> 
> Come yell at me on [Tumblr.](http://mooifyourecows.tumblr.com/)


	2. Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Suga exercises more than just his legs on his late night trip to the gym.  
> Too bad training his ability to flirt with handsome strangers didn't get him any closer to winning that bet against Noya.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a little bit of attempted non-con in this one, so read at your own discretion~

For a guy who slept in until noon every day anyway, it was easier to  _stay_ _up_ until half past ass o’clock than to try to _wake_ _up_ at half past ass o’clock.

It was easier, but it was also smarter. After all, there was never anybody at the gym at three in the morning. Which meant that Sugawara could have free range of the equipment _and_ the music. More importantly, an empty gym meant that there was no chance that Sugawara would run in to _him._

Sugawara had never had a stalker before, so he didn’t really know what type of actions constituted as stalking, but he was pretty sure the creep that consistently bugged and flirted with him whenever he went to the gym during the day was definitely toeing the line between annoying admirer and full blown stalker. 

It had gotten irritating enough that Sugawara was now changing his schedule, breaking out of the routine of stopping by the gym before work every evening just so he wouldn’t have to deal with the creep’s persistent advances. And now here he was, half past ass o’clock, in the eerily empty gym filling his water bottle at the fountain and casting nervous glances over his shoulder every thirty seconds.

He had never been in the gym when it was even half empty, let alone completely abandoned. He kept expecting someone to sneak up on him and tell him he wasn’t allowed to be there, even though he paid the extra monthly fee for the special 24/7 access key.

Once he accepted that he was truly alone, he was finally able to relax. He practically skipped to the cardio theater and claimed his favorite treadmill, giddy that it was actually free for the taking. It was the only machine that had a still functioning slope control for uphill running and didn’t require the grace of god to start.

After syncing his phone to the overhead speakers, he turned on his favorite exercise playlist- made entirely up of k-pop songs- and started his stretches.

He was just straightening from being bent over, holding the toes of his sneakers and singing into his knees when he caught sight of movement in the reflection on the wall of mirrors in front of him. He let out a squeak and jumped, heart leaping in terror.

A large man with warm tanned skin, short black hair, a chiseled jawline, and deep brown eyes stood in the doorway that connected the cardio theater to the free weight room. He was wearing a pair of black exercise shorts that showed a delicious amount of tanned and muscular thighs, and a sleeveless white shirt with the image of a crow midflight on the chest.

“Sorry,” he said, offering a kind smile. “Didn’t mean to startle you.”

Sugawara gripped his chest, and let out a shaky sigh. He turned towards the man, eyeing him warily.

“It’s okay…”

“I’m surprised to see someone else in here at this hour,” the man said, deep voice polite and disarming. “I’m usually here alone.”

“This treadmill is mine.” Sugawara pointed at the machine, suddenly defensive. “I already called it.”

The man let out a laugh and walked into the room. “It’s all yours. I’ll probably be spending all my time in there anyway.” He jerked a thumb over his shoulder at the weight room. “I’m just here to fill up my water bottle.” He lifted the green water bottle Sugawara hadn’t noticed he had been carrying, probably on account of the fact that it had been dangling from his fingers next to those disgustingly mesmerizing thighs.

“Oh. Okay…” Sugawara scratched the back of his neck. Suddenly remembering that his music was still blasting over the speakers, he grabbed his cell phone off of the treadmill, heat flushing his cheeks with embarrassment. “Sorry, I’ll turn off my music—”

“No.”

Sugawara glanced at the man.

He smiled crookedly. “Leave it on. I don’t mind.” He walked across the room to the water fountain and started filling his bottle.

Sugawara wasted a few more seconds staring at the broad expanse of his back, appreciating the tight way his shirt and shorts clung to his form.

His thighs looked just as good from behind.

They weren’t the only things that looked good though.

Sugawara tore his eyes away and set his phone back on the treadmill and climbed onto the belt. He couldn’t let a hot guy distract him from the whole reason he was there in the first place. He had a half marathon to train for, and if he couldn’t keep up with Nishinoya this time, the firecracker that he called one of his best friends was going to force him onto the Spartan diet and training regimen that he had converted Tanaka to just a few weeks prior and Sugawara wasn’t willing to give up his “eat anything edible and sleep until his cat tries to literally suffocate him” lifestyle just yet.

He just didn’t have time to waste ogling the tanned Adonis. Unfortunately. Because if Sugawara was honest, there was plenty about the man that he was more than a little willing to spend hours admiring.

_Just ignore him._

Sugawara let out a sigh and turned on the treadmill, starting it on a low setting. He worked up a swift walk, eyes flicking towards the other man every few seconds, and slowly upped the speed until he was in a light jog, shaggy hair bouncing in the corners of his vision as he glanced from the mirrors ahead of him to the man now twisting the lid onto his water bottle and turning.

Sugawara gulped and lifted his chin.

_Act cool._

_Act cool._

He stared at his reflection in the mirror, aware- but not all that ashamed- that he was trying to show off, flexing all the right muscles and feigning indifference to the exercise that, in reality, made him want to lie down on his stomach and sob into the floor for three hours before opening a fresh tub of cheese balls and drowning himself in self-loathing and empty carbs.

He held up the façade until the man walked past and disappeared into the weight room.

As soon as he was gone, Sugawara let out a shaking groan and immediately started cursing. He cursed the treadmill, cursed his legs, cursed the gym, cursed Nishinoya, and even cursed quinoa, before finally deciding to toss out a blanket curse of,

_“Fuck the whole universe and everything in it, especially health food and running.”_

Once he expended a satisfying dose of rage, he fell into a mildly uncomfortable silence and continued on with the torture.

Just two minutes later his high functioning ADHD reared its ugly head and he was _bored_. Running was _boring_. Especially when he wasn’t actually going anywhere. His mind wandered back to the man in the other room and he wondered what he was doing. Was he squatting? Bulking up those already gloriously thick thighs? Or maybe he was on the bench, pumping the bar up above his chest with his fantastic arms.

Sugawara wondered if he could bench him. Would it be weird to offer to help him out by clutching onto his back as he squatted? Or maybe he could hug his thighs and dangle off of him as he did pull-ups.

He was salivating over the daydream, giggling dumbly, when a new song started over the speakers and his attention nearly gave him whiplash with how quickly it switched.

He pumped his arm in the air at the beat of the bass, running turning rhythmic as he bobbed his head and belted the words- or what he assumed were the words, considering he didn’t speak Korean.

The lyrics shifted into English and he sang them louder, with more confidence, jerking his hands in a way that looked totally dorky but felt badass.

_“See me in the whip and she going down, all around,_

_Run it, run it, touch it down to the ground,_

_Hit it from the back, hundred racks on the track, let it stack,_

_She wants me to whip it, whip it fast holler back.”_

His eyes drifted to the side and he caught sight of the man in the mirror, standing in the doorway once more, watching him with an amused expression.

Sugawara yelped and stumbled. He grabbed onto the railings and hauled himself up, reaching out to slam his palm down on the emergency stop button. The treadmill belt slowed to a stop and Sugawara bent over, panting.

“Sorry,” the man said.

“You need to wear a bell,” Sugawara grumbled and swiped an arm across his forehead, collecting beads of sweat.

“That’s an interesting running style.” The man walked over to the cable cross machine a short distance away and adjusted the weight.

“Yeah… well…” Sugawara took a drink from his water bottle, looking away in embarrassment. “You know. It’s a more… uh… full body workout than just normal running.”

“Sure looked like it.” The man chuckled and took the two handles of the machine and spread his legs.

Sugawara ogled his backside as he bent slightly over and pumped the handles diagonally across his body. Sweat gleamed on the skin of his arms and Sugawara chugged liquid from his water bottle, suddenly horribly parched.

_Crap he’s so hot._

_What do I do?_

_I want to climb him._

Sugawara commanded himself to act cool and stepped off of the treadmill. He set his water aside, eyes drifting towards the man’s reflection. Their gazes met for a split second before the man looked away, Adam’s apple jerking in his throat.

Sugawara turned his back to the mirror, heart racing.

_Oh my god he was checking me out too._

_Quick, do something hot._

Sugawara hooked his thumbs in the waistband of his sweatpants and thrust them down his thighs, revealing the short, orange workout shorts he had on underneath. He bent at the waist, sure to arch his back and poke his ass out as he dragged the pants all the way down to his ankles and over his shoes.

A loud _thunk_ sounded behind him and he glanced over his shoulder.

The man, face turned away, but bright red in the reflection, struggled blindly to grab the right handle of the machine that had apparently been released, allowing the weights to slam back into place.

Sugawara looked away again, lips curling into a triumphant smirk.

_Slain._

He straightened and draped the pants over the treadmill. He turned forward and examined his appearance in the mirror. His hair was a tumbleweed and his face was flushed from his short time on the treadmill, but his legs looked good.

He could use that.

Sugawara spread his feet wide and bent over, reaching down and holding each of his shoes.

_Look._

_Look how flexible I am._

He straightened again, bringing his feet together, and stretched his arms high over his head. His black t-shirt lifted up over his stomach and he cocked a hip to the side lazily. In his peripherals, he noticed the man’s arms freeze halfway into a rep and he fought to keep the smile from his lips.

_Almost too easy…_

The man returned the handles to their place and ran a hand through his hair. Their eyes met in the mirror again and he opened his mouth, hesitated, and closed it again.

He cleared his throat, gave Sugawara a smile, and walked back to the weight room, rubbing the back of his neck.

Sugawara blew out a breath and pouted his lips in disappointment.

He hummed and wandered around the room, occasionally hopping onto a new machine and struggling with the controls. After putting the elliptical on the lowest resistance and furiously pumping the handles and kicking his legs back and forth, letting out choppy, breathless laughter at the feeling of barreling out of control, he spent a minute doing clumsy strokes on the rowing machine before tumbling to the floor after a too ambitious jerk and kick.

He sat on his heels and ran his eyes over the room, tapping his fingers on his thighs as he hunted for his next victim. His gaze lighted on an adductor machine and he perked. He glanced towards the doorway to the weight room and then leapt to his feet. He ran up to the machine and sat on the seat, placing his legs against the thigh pads spread wide apart. He bit his bottom lip and lifted his eyes to the doorway. The machine was positioned perfectly across from it. If the man came back in the room, the first thing he would see was Sugawara.

“Come on in here,” he sang low under his breath. “Fall into my seductive trap, handsome stranger…”

He tested the machine, furrowing his brows in effort when the weight proved to be a little too much. He adjusted it and gripped the handles on either side of his hips. He squeezed his legs slowly shut, muscles flexing against the resistance of the machine, and then opened them again.

“ _Perfect_ ,” he whispered and grinned.

With the trap set, he needed only wait for the man to make another appearance.

He was halfway through counting the ceiling tiles when he finally showed up.

The man slowed to a stop just inside of the room and Sugawara eagerly shut and then opened his legs again, keeping the motion slow and deliberate. He peeked up into the man’s face, catching his bewildered and flustered expression before he quickly turned and rushed to the cable cross machine once more.

Sugawara bit back a smirk. He did a few more reps of the thigh adductor and climbed off. He wandered slowly over to a lying leg curl machine and lay across it. He gripped the handles and lifted his feet up to his butt, peeking in the mirror to confirm that the man was watching him again, though he obviously tried not to.

Teasing the man was proving to be much easier than Sugawara had anticipated. At this rate, he might actually make some sort of headway with the stranger.

_Nothing in my life has ever been this simple._

_What’s the catch?_

He finished with the machine and walked back to his treadmill, wracking his mind for some idea of how things could be going so well for him at the moment.

With Sugawara’s less than savory track record in mind, there was no way that something _wasn’t_ going to go horrifically wrong. He grabbed his water bottle and sucked on the mouth, brows furrowed.

“So… uh…”

Sugawara turned towards the man. He replaced the cable cross handles and faced him, lifting the hem of his shirt to wipe the sweat from the side of his neck.

_Oh damn._

Sugawara stared at the man’s chiseled chest and stomach.

He dropped the shirt again and Sugawara frantically gulped down his water.

“I haven’t seen you around here before,” the man said.

Sugawara wiped the back of his wrist across his mouth.

“I’ve only been a member for two months,” he told him, screwing the cap onto his water bottle. “But I usually come during the day.”

“Ah.” The man smiled. “That would be why, then.” He pointed at his chest. “Three a.m. regular.”

“Not a people person, I’m guessing?” Sugawara cocked an eyebrow.

“On the contrary, I love people.” The man’s smile turned dazzling, the corners of his eyes wrinkling with endearing lines. “My work schedule on the other hand…” he hummed and shrugged. “It’s not much of a fan.”

“Oh?” Sugawara leaned on the treadmill. “And what do you do for work?”

“I teach,” he said. “At the university. Anthropology and mythology. And then I coach the men’s volleyball team. My first class of the day is at five, and practice runs through the evening so the only time I really have to work out is around this time.”

Sugawara swallowed the sudden urge to ask the man to elope with him and propped his elbow up on the treadmill.

“That’s so cool! You sound like a very busy man…”

He smiled again and Sugawara’s knees went weak at the sight.

“What about you?” he asked. “What do you do for a living?”

“Ah, I’m a DJ at a club downtown. I just came from there, actually.”

The man’s eyes widened.

“Oh! Jeez. Wow. That’s… really awesome. You’re… you’re really cool.”

Sugawara sputtered with laughter, pressing his hands over his stomach.

The man’s face turned pink.

“What’s so funny?”

Sugawara shook his head and wiped a tear from the corner of his eye.

“No… no…” he giggled. “Nothing.”

They were silent for a moment and the man cleared his throat.

“So… do you play exclusively K-pop music at your club?” He gestured at the speakers, overhead.

Sugawara grinned. “No. I did once, though. No one was all that happy with me about it. I’m not allowed to do it anymore. Unless it’s a remix or mash-up with a good drop.”

The man chuckled. They smiled at each other quietly for a few seconds before he rubbed the back of his neck and said,

“Uh, I’m Daichi… by the way.”

_Ugh. Even his name is hot._

“Suga.” He offered his hand.

Daichi shook it. “Nice to meet you, Suga.”

“Likewise.”

Their hands lingered in each other’s grip and Sugawara smiled coyly at him, hoping that at least some fraction of his thirst came through the stare.

Daichi’s cheeks flushed even brighter pink and he finally pulled his hand away.

“Uhm… so I should probably…” He pointed to the weight room.

“You probably should,” Sugawara agreed, cocking one eyebrow.

Daichi scratched the back of his neck, hesitated, and then left the room once more.

Sugawara leaned heavily on the treadmill with a moan.

“Holy fuck he should be _illegal_ ,” he whispered into his folded arms.

A buzzing sound drew his attention to where his cell phone rested in the cup holder of the treadmill and he reluctantly reached over and checked it. A new text message lit up the screen and he opened a picture from Nishinoya of him and Tanaka holding up two tall glasses filled with what looked like vomit, followed by the caption,

_Healthy protein shakes ftw!_

Sugawara gagged and darkened the screen.

He couldn’t forget the real reason he was there that night. He needed to cease his flirting with Daichi and get back to training for that half marathon. He only had a month and a half to get into shape before Nishinoya forced him to suffer as much as Tanaka obviously was in that image.

“No more flirting,” he growled and climbed back onto the treadmill. He worked up to a good jogging pace, arms pumping determinedly. He wouldn’t allow himself to be distracted any more. There was more at stake than a hot guy. (Though it pained him to admit.)

A new song came on over the speakers and Sugawara let out a loud gasp.

_Because how the hell was he supposed to concentrate on running when his favorite song to dance to was suddenly playing over the big speakers?_

Sugawara hopped off of the treadmill and rushed to an open area of the room. He sang clumsily along with the words as he leapt into the dance he and Tanaka had practiced extensively for hours in the apartment they and Nishinoya shared. The one dance that Sugawara’s short attention span had actually allowed him to learn by memory.

He slowly thrust his fist in the air, singing,

“ _Waiting for you Anpanmaaaan…_

_Waiting for you Anpanma-a-an…”_

And then he spotted Daichi watching him from the doorway- _again_ \- and spun around.

“Stop sneaking up on me!” he whined, face burning.

Daichi laughed and waved his hand at him. “Sorry, sorry. Go ahead. Keep dancing.”

Sugawara crossed his arms over his chest in embarrassment.

“I didn’t mean to interrupt.” Daichi pressed his hands together. “Please continue.”

“No way.”

“But you’re great! And dancing is good exercise, so…”

Sugawara leveled him with a stare. “You’re making fun of me.”

“No! No, I’m not. I just enjoy watching it…” He cleared his throat. “Please ignore me.”

Sugawara hummed. He was still fairly certain that Daichi was teasing him, but his favorite part of the song was approaching and it would be a cold day in hell if he missed the opportunity to dance along to it.

He turned back to the mirror and started his dance once more, immediately leaping back into the easy, fast paced rhythm of the song. Soon, he no longer cared if Daichi was still watching him. Dancing, even with an audience, was fun for him, and he lifted his voice to sing with the words, smiling brightly as he bounced through the motions.

_“I’m a new generation Anpanman!_

_I’m a new superhero Anpanman!”_

He flapped his arms and rocked to the beat, chest filling with giddy happiness over the freeing sensation of moving his body.

Getting a sudden spike of courage, he turned to Daichi and rushed over to him.

“If you insist on being here, you have to dance too!”

He dragged him to the open area as Daichi stammered and protested.

“Oh, I don’t know how to dance. And besides, I’m okay with just watching—”

“Nope! Not an option!”

Sugawara took his hands and spun him in a circle. He pulled him in and their chests brushed before he twirled away, singing brightly to the song. He rolled his hips and kicked out his feet, popping out his chest and cocking his head to the side. Daichi’s cheeks grew an adorable shade of red.

“C’mon, Daichi, get into it!” Sugawara laughed. He hopped close and placed his hands on Daichi’s shoulders, swaying to the music and coaxing him into moving with him. It took a few seconds, but Daichi finally loosened up, placing a touch to his waist and taking his hand.

A smile curled over his lips and he bobbed Sugawara to the beat, guiding him in a circle.

Sugawara laughed and leaned his head back, still singing, basking in the bliss of dancing with a handsome stranger in the middle of the night in an empty gym.

They danced until the song ended and Sugawara spun away, panting lightly and pushing his hair away from his damp forehead.

“You’re an awful dancer, Daichi,” he said, earning a bark of laughter from the other man.

“And you,” he pointed at him, “are an incredible dancer.”

“You,” Sugawara returned the point, “have good taste.”

“Yeah, I suppose I do.” Daichi dragged a hand through his hair, making it stand up in messy rows atop his head.

Sugawara smiled and took a moment to admire him, until he heard the buzz of his cell phone on the treadmill and he was reminded once more of the grim reality that was his life.

He let out a groan and slumped towards the machine.

“Back to training,” he grumbled.

“Are you training for something specific?” Daichi asked.

“Half marathon.” Sugawara sighed and climbed onto the belt. “My friend is making me enter with him. And he’s been threatening me with this ridiculous healthy diet and exercise routine so we made a bet that if I couldn’t keep up with him in the marathon and finish within five minutes of his time, I’d go on it. He’s already roped our other friend into it and he said it’s literal _hell_.”

“Sounds brutal,” Daichi admitted with a crooked smile.

“You’re telling me.”

“Well, I won’t distract you from your training any more then.”

_No, please distract me forever._

Sugawara hummed.

Daichi went back into the weight room and Sugawara reluctantly started jogging again. He resigned himself to focusing on the exercise, ignoring any distraction and fighting through the boredom. He made it through five songs, chest burning and legs aching, before he received a visitor.

Sugawara would gladly welcome Daichi wandering back into the room to tempt him into another round of bashful flirting, but unfortunately, this new visitor wasn’t Daichi.

This visitor was the last kind of visitor he wanted to see.

“ _You’ve gotta be kidding me_ ,” Sugawara managed to choke out between breathless gasps before slowing the treadmill down and then to an eventual stop.

The man who had been persistently pestering him for the past month and a half entered the room and looked around, pale blue eyes cool and calculating. When his gaze fell on Sugawara, his wide mouth spread into a smirk and he headed in his direction, swiping a hand over his short blonde hair and lifting his chin.

“Koushi!” he called. “We just can’t seem to stop running in to each other.”

Sugawara lifted his water bottle to his lips and took a drink, watching warily.

He walked up to the treadmill and leaned against the railing.

“Tomoki,” Sugawara said in a low voice. “So strange how we seem to always be at the same place.”

“I know, right? Must be destiny.”

“Probably not.”

Tomoki chuckled. “So you’re working out in the middle of the night now, huh?”

“Apparently.”

“That’s not a bad idea, honestly.” Tomoki looked around. “It’s nice and… empty. Feels like we’re really alone, doesn’t it?”

_Bzzzt… What is… something that a creepy stalker rapist would say before performing an assault?_

“Well.” Sugawara lifted his chin. “Not completely alone. There’s a guy in the weight room.”

“Hmm…” Tomoki stared at him with those piercing blue eyes that made Sugawara’s throat tighten. He straightened and took a step back. “Don’t worry. I won’t bug you. You’ve got a marathon to train for, right?”

“Half,” Sugawara mumbled.

“I’ll let you get to it, then.” Tomoki winked and went into the weight room, leaving Sugawara alone.

“ _Ugh_.”

What was with that creep? How the hell did he know that Sugawara would be at the gym at that time? Was he _following_ him? It was already bad enough that he had found out where he worked and showed up almost every night and stared at him from the bar.

_Freak._

_Gross._

Sugawara threw himself back into his jogging, deciding that maybe it was about time he filed for a restraining order. Could he do that? Did the guy need to make an actual threat on him before he was allowed to file for one? Sugawara thought he had made it more than perfectly clear that he wasn’t interested in Tomoki for any reason, let alone _romantically_ , but he just hadn’t taken the hint. Did he have to flat out tell him, “ _Hey, Asshole. Leave me the fuck alone or else I’ll call the police,_ ” before he got the message?

Judging by how persistent the dipshit was, Sugawara wasn’t sure that even that was enough to make him stay away.

Sugawara enjoyed another ten minutes of alone time before he climbed down from the treadmill. He unscrewed the lid of his water bottle and carried it over to the water fountain, breathing heavily.

His mood had plummeted, and he could only think about how much he wanted to go home and crawl into bed with Tanaka so they could whisper their woes to one another out of earshot of their devilish roommate who was the sole reason why these bad things happened to good people like Sugawara.

After all, if Nishinoya had never roped Sugawara into this marathon, he wouldn’t have gotten a gym membership and met his creepy stalker.

_I wouldn’t have met Daichi either though._

Sugawara sighed and began filling his water bottle. Maybe he would try to get Daichi’s number and then cancel his membership. He could jog out on the streets like people who enjoyed being outdoors did. He could take Tanaka up on his offer to kick Tomoki’s ass so he’d leave him alone.

It sucked that he felt the need to go so far just to feel comfortable, but he supposed it was just a curse that went along with being so god damn attractive.

Sugawara felt a sudden grope at his ass and he let out a loud gasp, dropping his water bottle in the fountain, where it spilled over. He spun around and faced Tomoki, who smirked and moved close, blonde brows pulled low over his blue eyes.

“I did _not_ give you permission to touch me,” Sugawara hissed.

Tomoki chuckled and brushed his fingers over Sugawara’s cheek.

“Like you’re not asking for it, wearing those shorts,” he said.

Sugawara swatted his hand away and lowered his voice.

“Unless you hear it straight from my mouth, _I’m not asking for shit from you other than for you to get the fuck away from me._ ”

Tomoki’s chin jutted and he suddenly grabbed Sugawara by the chin and jaw, fingers digging in to his skin roughly. He shoved him back slightly and then yanked him forward again.

“You know, I’m getting kind of sick of you thinking you’re better than everybody,” he growled. “Here I am, giving you a compliment, but you’re so full of yourself that you can’t even say _thank you_.”

Sugawara’s heart pounded, gut twisting in fear as he stared up at him.

“You should be grateful I’m even giving you the light of day.” Tomoki lifted his nose.

He gave Sugawara’s face one more squeeze before ripping his hand away and taking a step back. He held his stare for a tense second and then snorted, lips sliding into an arrogant smirk. He turned and walked back to the weight room.

Sugawara gritted his teeth and whirled back to the fountain. He let out a furious stream of curses and refilled his water bottle.

He was _definitely_ filing for a restraining order.

And asking Tanaka to kick the disgusting creep’s ass.

“Fucking _incel._ ” Sugawara twisted the cap back on the water bottle and stomped over to the treadmill. On his way there, he met with Daichi, who made his way to the cable cross machine. He smiled bright when he saw him, but the smile faltered when he registered the angry expression on Sugawara’s face.

“Training not going well?” he asked.

Sugawara gulped and wiped the rage from his face. He forced a laugh and clutched his water bottle in both hands in front of him, adopting a coy stance, hip cocked.

“I hate running,” he admitted sheepishly.

“I don’t know a single person who _likes_ running, honestly.” Daichi propped his hands up on his hips.

“It’s _torture_ ,” Sugawara whined.

“Hey,” Daichi reached out and patted his shoulder, causing his heart to leap. “Maybe you can just dance your way to that finish line. It’s only, what… like twenty-one kilometers?”

Sugawara laughed. “I know you’re making fun of me, but that actually sounds like a pretty good idea. I might do that.”

“Then you’re gonna have to tell me where I can watch, because that sounds _hilarious_.”

“Or you could just enter it too,” Sugawara mused with a mischievous smile. “And be my dance partner.”

Daichi’s eyebrow quirked and he adopted his own mischievous smirk.

“Sorry, Suga. I’m built more for strength than speed.”

“That’s also important,” Sugawara said, voice turning honey sweet. “But how’s your stamina?”

His eyelids lowered and there was a slight rough growl to his words when he replied,

“That’s something I’d much rather show than tell.”

Sugawara’s breath hitched and he resisted the urge to beg him to show him right there on the grimy gym floor.

_This man should be illegal._

“To be honest,” Sugawara said, moving closer to him until he was just a breath away. “That sounds like something I’d be really interested in being shown.”

Daichi gulped.

“Then…”

A hand dropped onto Sugawara’s shoulder and he tensed.

“Oh? You two know each other?” Tomoki appeared between them, his other hand on Daichi’s shoulder as he smiled between the two. “What a small world!”

Sugawara sneered and brushed his hand off. He walked to his treadmill and climbed on. He set his water in the cup holder and checked his phone, eyes flicking at the others in annoyance.

Of course he would wait until Daichi was about to ask Sugawara out before showing his stupid face.

_Stupid Tomoki._

Daichi went to the cable cross machine and Tomoki- to Sugawara’s dismay- climbed onto the treadmill to his left.

“You two are close?” he murmured.

Sugawara set his phone aside.

“That’s none of your business.”

He chuckled. “So… that’s the kind of guy you’re in to…” He watched Daichi with narrow eyes as he slowly pulled the cables diagonally across his body.

Sugawara started his treadmill.

“I’m in to guys who leave me alone.”

He increased the speed to a rigorous pace and ignored him when he laughed. Sugawara put all his attention into running, filling his mind with images of puke green smoothies and the smell of _whatever_ it was that Nishinoya cooked for breakfast that morning.

_You can do this, Koushi._

_Do it for the cheese balls._

_And ice cream._

_And those little pies from the convenience store with the custard inside them._

_Oh fuck I’m starving._

_I have a candy bar in my bag._

_Have I earned a break yet?_

_No! Think about all those spinach leaves and raw eggs Noya put in the blender this morning!_

Sugawara huffed and increased his speed, propelled by his severe distaste of any green food that wasn’t pistachio ice cream or a margarita.

He managed to last a whole ten more minutes before finally allowing himself to stop. He chugged from his water bottle, pleased that he hadn’t given in to his urges three songs ago to get off the treadmill and dance. When he looked around, he noticed that both Daichi and Tomoki were no longer in the room.

The loss of Tomoki was no skin off his teeth, but he felt more than just a tad disappointed that Daichi wasn’t around for him to flirt with.

Sugawara contemplated just going into the weight room, but to do that would be to allow Daichi to learn that he knew fuck all about weight lifting and muscle training in any form. And Sugawara had already made enough of a dork out of himself for one night. At this rate, Daichi wouldn’t even _want_ to get Sugawara’s phone number.

He let out a deep sigh and headed across the room. He was dripping sweat and his legs were pudding. He hated to admit that he was probably at his limit for the day. It wasn’t nearly good enough, and as he was now, he wouldn’t even be able to complete the half marathon, let alone keep up with the beast that was Nishinoya Yuu, but that was a problem for another day. For now, he just wanted to dry himself off and flirt the promise of a date out of Daichi before he went home and passed out.

He walked down a short hallway to the locker room and went inside, fanning his face in exhaustion. He opened his locker and set his phone and water bottle inside, draping his sweatpants over the door. He let out a groan and grabbed a white towel from the shelf to the left of the lockers, but before he could even wipe a drop of sweat from his forehead, a hand pressed to his side.

Unpleasant chills exploded over his skin and he held his breath. He spun around, just to be pushed up against the lockers, two hands wrapping around his wrists and holding them in place against the cool metal. Tomoki’s mouth covered his and disgust shot through him with so much force that his stomach churned with nausea.

Sugawara lifted his foot and drove it down into Tomoki’s toes. He tried to put all his force behind the blow, but his legs were weak and tired, and Tomoki merely chuckled when he pulled his lips away.

“C’mon, Koushi,” he whispered, pressing his body close, using his larger frame to prevent him from slipping away. “I know you want me too.”

Sugawara opened his mouth to protest, but Tomoki just took advantage of it to kiss him again, this time adding his tongue. Fury and disgust warred with him and he bucked his body wildly against him, trying to wedge his knee between his legs and pull his wrists out of his grip.

Sugawara growled and bit down on Tomoki’s tongue. He pulled back with a cry of pain and Sugawara got one hand free. He punched at him. Tomoki laughed and forced him around, shoving his chest up against the lockers instead. He gripped his hair in one hand and leaned his face close to his ear.

“It’s alright,” he whispered wetly. “I like a little pain.”

“Then you’re gonna love me.”

Sugawara sucked in a sharp breath at the sound of the snarl.

Suddenly Tomoki was ripped away from him. Sugawara’s legs gave out and he collapsed to the floor, rolling to his bottom to watch as Daichi tossed Tomoki against the opposite wall. He followed after him and delivered just one punch to his left eye, cracking his head back against the drywall.

Tomoki cried out and held his arms up.

“Please stop!”

“ _Leave_ ,” Daichi snapped. “And don’t bother coming back to this place ever again. I’ll be reporting you and having your membership revoked.”

Tomoki slid along the wall and fled the locker room without another word and Sugawara breathed out a sigh of relief.

Daichi faced him and rushed up.

“Are you alright?” he knelt in front of him, eyebrows knit together with worry.

Sugawara took in a shaky breath and shoved up with his hands. He vaulted into Daichi’s chest and kissed him fervently on the lips, wrapping his arms tight around his neck. Daichi held him around the waist and kissed him back, slanting their mouths together without a moment’s hesitation. Sugawara let out a soft moan and Daichi’s open and wet mouth caught it, their tongues probing forward to meet.

They kissed, deep and in a haze of adrenaline fueled passion, until they were both gasping for breath. Sugawara pulled away, peppering two more kisses along Daichi’s jaw, before his head fell back, eyes closed, and he panted. Daichi’s lips explored the side of his neck and Sugawara whined, the sound raspy and weak.

“I’m sweaty,” he whispered in protest.

“So am I,” Daichi murmured and his teeth grazed his skin.

“I’m also troublesome.”

“Hmm… I noticed.”

“And I have bad eating habits.”

“… Alright…”

“And I don’t know anything about lifting weights.”

Daichi slowly lifted his head and their eyes met.

“I live with two grown men who, for the past few weeks, have subsisted mainly on various vegetables and protein supplements ground up in the blender.” Sugawara gulped. “My sleeping schedule is so fucked up I’ve been awake for twenty-four hours. My attention span is so short that I haven’t finished a full movie in six years and I’m more than a little concerned that I won’t be able to complete this half marathon because I might end up getting distracted by a hot dog stand or a bush shaped like a corgi or a corgi shaped like a bush or—”

“Suga,” Daichi interrupted. “Why are you telling me all of this?”

“Because in a few seconds I’m probably going to ask you to elope with me and I want all the stuff that might be a deal breaker out on the table now so that there are no surprises in the future.”

Daichi’s eyes widened and he let out a sudden bark of laughter, head tipping back.

Sugawara stared up at him anxiously, pulse throbbing.

Daichi met his gaze, eyes crinkled softly in the corners.

“Well… I’m a boring guy who has no social life outside of work and waking up at three a.m. to go to the gym. I call my mom every other day and visit her every Sunday. There’s an embarrassing viral video of me floating around the internet involving an unfortunate run-in with the spider monkeys at the zoo. I can’t whistle. I’m allergic to bees.” His hand rubbed slow circles on the small of Sugawara’s back. “I’m terrified of horses and am so bad at math that I had to take the class three times in order to graduate from university.”

Sugawara’s heart raced, his face burning hot. Daichi smiled and lifted a hand to gently brush a lock of hair over his ear.

“And I’m more than a little smitten with a guy I just met, almost to the level that I’m considering taking him up on his offer to elope.”

Sugawara sucked in a fast, sharp breath. “ _Are you serious? Because I know a guy who can officiate and—”_

Daichi cut him off with a kiss. When they parted again, he laughed and leaned his forehead on Sugawara’s.

“How about we start off with dinner? Or actually…” He pulled away and glanced at the clock on the wall of the locker room. “Breakfast?”

Sugawara released a light breath and smiled.

“Breakfast sounds good.”

Daichi stared into his eyes silently for a moment before gently pressing their lips together.

“Are you picky about where we eat?” he murmured.

Sugawara hummed and sunk against him. “No… not at all…”

“Then…” Daichi’s hand smoothed down the curve of his spine. “How does breakfast in _bed_ sound?”

Sugawara shivered.

“God, you should be illegal.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Of course I couldn't resist making Suga sing and dance a little. The two songs featured in this story are linked next!
> 
> [Wet](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pc3IN4GjAPs) by Flowsik x Jessi  
> [Anpanman](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkLMPihvKaQ) by BTS
> 
> This one was a total pain in my booty, but I hope y'all enjoy it anyway~
> 
> Come yell at me on [Tumblr](http://mooifyourecows.tumblr.com/)


	3. Magic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Suga has a pretty clever way of getting out of work.

“Hey Daichi, do you wanna see a magic trick?”

Daichi turned with a wary slowness that he hoped would wordlessly convey to his cleaning partner just how little he trusted those words.

Sugawara stood on the opposite side of the classroom, leaning on his broom. His lips were curved into that smile that Daichi had learned to interpret as _bad news_ , but though Daichi’s captain urges told him he should throw up his defenses and halt whatever mischief Sugawara was planning before it could rope him into something dangerous and/or humiliating, he couldn’t deny the part of him that found that smile endearingly infectious.

Daichi wiped a desk down with his rag and hummed.

“Does this magic trick somehow end with you skipping out on cleaning duty?”

Sugawara gave a mock gasp and Daichi smiled at the faux outrage.

“I can’t believe you would accuse me of such a dirty deed!”

“Don’t think I’ve forgotten how you oh-so conveniently needed to use the bathroom while we were cleaning up after practice yesterday.”

“I _did_ have to use the bathroom!”

“For the whole twenty minutes?”

“Daichi, it’s bad manners to ask someone about what he was doing in the bathroom. I could have had explosive diarrhea.”

“You sure were jumping and running around a lot in practice for someone with explosive diarrhea.”

“Maybe that’s what caused it.”

Daichi snorted and folded his rag. “Okay, fine. What’s your magic trick?”

Sugawara perked. “You really wanna see it?”

“Well I have a feeling that you won’t actually get back to cleaning until you show me so…”

“You’re right about that!” Sugawara walked up the aisle until he was standing directly in front of him.

Daichi watched him lean the broom against a desk, suddenly nervous over all the potential torture to which Sugawara could be about to subject him.

“Okay.” Sugawara met his eyes, one brow cocked. He reached out and took Daichi’s biceps. He maneuvered him so that he was standing closer, and said, “So, for this trick I need you to stand right here…” He took the rag from his hands and set it on the desk next to the broom. “It’s a _disappearing_ trick.”

Daichi scowled. “You better not be the one disappearing. Seriously, Suga. If I have to clean this room by myself—”

“No!” Sugawara laughed. “Just listen!”

Daichi hummed, eyeing him suspiciously.

“When I count to three,” Sugawara lifted three fingers, “I’ll make something important to you _disappear_.”

“It’s not my wallet, is it?”

“Of course not,” he scoffed. He hesitated, brown eyes flicking down towards his pocket. “But just for curiosity’s sake, how much money you got in there?”

“Suga.”

“Just kidding!” Sugawara giggled. “So are you ready?”

Daichi could practically feel the boy’s giddy excitement radiating off of him in waves. His cheeks had taken on a warm, rosy color, and he couldn’t seem to keep the smile from his lips.

“Okay. I’m ready.”

“Great! So just close your eyes and I’ll start counting!”

“Close my eyes?” Daichi’s suspicion shot through the ceiling and he took a step back. “I knew it! You’re going to steal my wallet!”

“I’m not!” Sugawara laughed and caught his wrists. “C’mon, Daichi I promise I’m not going to mug you.”

“Then you’re going to run off and leave the cleaning to me, right?”

“I swear I’m not!”

Daichi hummed, still not convinced.

“I promise,” Sugawara said and pulled him back in place. “So just close your eyes.”

“Doesn’t it kind of defeat the purpose of being a magic trick if I close my eyes?” Daichi asked.

“Doesn’t it ever get tiring being a total buzzkill, Daichi?”

“Not really.”

“Close your eyes.”

Daichi released a heavy sigh but finally conceded. He closed his eyes.

“Alright,” he said. “They’re closed.”

“Good boy.”

Daichi clicked his tongue.

“Now…” Sugawara’s voice lowered and his fingers drifted down to hold him by the hands. “I’ll count to three…”

Daichi gulped. His pulse quickened until he could hear the _whooshing_ of his blood in his ears.

“One, two… _three_.”

Daichi felt the soft press of warm skin against his lips and his heart somersaulted in his chest. He squeezed Sugawara’s fingers and leaned into the kiss. It only lasted a moment before Sugawara was pulling away, but the memory of the touch burned and tingled on Daichi’s lips.

Sugawara released his hands and Daichi cracked his eyes open, meeting his gaze.

“Abracadabra,” he said. He held up his hands and flicked his fingers out, wiggling them. “Just like that, your lip virginity… _disappears_ …”

Daichi’s face grew hot and he didn’t have a single dignified thing to say in reply.

Sugawara giggled and grabbed the broom again.

“Now, here, will you hold this?” He thrust the broom at him and Daichi took it, confused. “I have to go to the bathroom.”

He turned and headed for the door and Daichi blinked.

“Hey! Wait a second, Suga. We have to finish cleaning!”

“It’ll just take a second,” Sugawara sang, smirking over his shoulder.

Daichi tossed the broom aside and gave chase. “Get back here!”

Sugawara squeaked and bolted.

“No! Daichi! I have explosive diarrhea!”

“You’re gonna have internal bleeding too when I catch you!”

Sugawara screamed and fled the classroom.

Daichi followed close behind, a wide grin stretching across his lips, which still tingled from the magical kiss. And even though it looked like they were both going to get into trouble for shirking their cleaning responsibilities, Daichi couldn’t find it in himself to be angry. Especially not when Sugawara’s loud, gleeful laughter floated up and echoed through the hallway around them.

It was just like magic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to treat myself by writing a short one this time around! It felt nice~
> 
> Come yell at me on [Tumblr.](http://mooifyourecows.tumblr.com/)


	4. Firsts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A first fight.  
> With a twist.

One could argue that Sugawara’s very first fist fight was entirely his fault.

Actually, _everyone_ would probably argue that.

Especially considering that his opponent was none other than Sawamura Daichi, who was well known not only for his affable personality, but also for his almost _too_ righteous sense of responsibility and “mature beyond his years” composure.

Unfortunately for Sawamura-kun though, Sugawara was well known for, well… the exact _opposite._

In his defense, Sugawara had nothing but noble intentions.

Okay… _mostly_ noble.

He’d be lying if there wasn’t at least a small part of him that had just been curious to see what would happen if the usually cool headed class rep lost his temper.

The encounter happened on the roof.

When Sugawara needed time alone, the roof was his go-to place in order to escape. It was always empty, on account of it being against the rules for students to be up there ever since a group of second years got caught lobbing water balloons on unsuspecting students who came and went from the school.

At first, Sugawara thought he was asleep. Curled up on his side against the slatted railing that encircled the roof, Sawamura Daichi appeared to be taking a nap under the sun, one arm folded under his head, uniform jacket draped over his hip.

Sugawara sucked on the mouth of his can of coffee and stood over the other boy, wondering if he was a deep enough sleeper for Sugawara to draw on his face without him waking up. But just as he was lamenting the fact that he didn’t have a pen, Daichi’s eyes cracked open.

He startled at the sight of Sugawara and slowly pulled himself into a sitting position.

“Sorry,” he mumbled, voice rough.

Sugawara cocked an eyebrow. “What for?”

“I didn’t realize anyone came up here.”

“And I didn’t realize the class rep broke rules.”

Daichi rubbed the back of his head and stared across the roof.

Sugawara examined him quietly for a moment before offering his coffee.

“Take a sip, Sawamura. You look like you need some waking up.”

Daichi hesitated, but took the can from his hand. “Thanks…”

Sugawara smiled and dropped to his bottom in front of him, crossing his legs. Daichi slowly sipped from the can and let out a weary sigh before passing it back over.

“So, whatcha doin’ up here, anyway?” Sugawara asked, holding the coffee in his lap.

Daichi looked at him and then rubbed his eyes with a sigh.

“I don’t know,” he muttered. “Guess I just needed… a break.”

“Break from what?”

Daichi shifted, an uneasy expression crossing his pale face. And Sugawara knew he was probably poking his nose where it didn’t belong. He and Daichi weren’t friends, after all. In fact, they hadn’t had more than a handful of conversations in the past, all of which were strictly school related. There was no reason for Daichi to open up to Sugawara about what it was that was obviously bothering him.

“There’s just…” Daichi started, not meeting Sugawara’s eyes. “A lot going on. The cultural festival is coming up and I volunteered for way too many jobs... graduation is just a few months away and all the sensei keeping bugging me about universities and future plans and exams and I let them talk me in to applying for a bunch of summer programs…” He let out another sigh. “I guess I’m a little overwhelmed.”

Sugawara hummed and lifted the coffee can to his lips.

“Sounds like you need to find a way to relieve some of that stress.”

Daichi’s lips pursed. “And how am I supposed to do that?”

Sugawara shrugged and stretched his legs out in front of him. “I dunno. Go for a run. Jerk off. Tell the sensei to blow it out their asses.”

Daichi scoffed. “I can’t tell the sensei to blow it out their asses.”

“Then one of the others.”

His cheeks tinted pink and Sugawara stifled a smirk.

_Cute._

“Well…” He cleared his throat. “I don’t really have a lot of free time.”

"How long does it usually take you to jerk off?"

Daichi glared at him and his skin flushed a darker shade of red, long sooty eyelashes fluttering in embarrassment.

Who would have thought that the over achieving class rep could be so adorable?

Sugawara set his coffee aside and leaned back on the heels of his hands. He eyed Daichi silently, from the dark bags under his eyes, to the chapped skin of his lips, to the uniform that Sugawara didn’t think he had ever seen so rumpled on the other boy.

It was clear to see that Sawamura Daichi was being crushed under the pressure of being the perfect and composed student leader that everyone had come to rely on. Even Sugawara, a virtual stranger, could sense the toll the stress was taking on him.

The dude seriously needed to relieve some of that pressure.

And Sugawara, feeling generous, decided to offer a helping hand.

“So why don’t you just quit?”

Daichi looked up at him in surprise. “Quit?”

Sugawara cocked an eyebrow. “Yeah. If you can’t handle it, then just quit.”

The corners of Daichi’s lips turned down. “I can’t just quit.”

“Why not?”

“Because! A lot of people are relying on me. And I said I would do these things so...”

Sugawara sat forward, crossing his legs again and leaning his elbows on his knees.

“And whose fault is that?”

Daichi blinked at him in incredulity. “What…”

“Like, I get that you’re an over achiever and all. But if you were just going to wind up like this, bitching about the stuff that you inflicted on yourself, then you should just quit.”

“I’m not—”

“I don’t feel sorry for you,” Sugawara interrupted. “Oh, boo hoo, it must be so hard to be you, huh? Handsome and perfect Sawamura Daichi who all of the teachers love, who all the underclassmen look up to, who all the girls fawn over. Your life is _so_ hard.”

Daichi’s eyebrows pulled low over his burning eyes. His shoulders had gone rigid, his hands clenched into fists in his lap.

“I’m not asking anybody to feel sorry for me,” he snapped. “I just came up here to get some fresh air and—”

“I get it,” Sugawara cut him off once more, causing his face to turn red in anger. “You bit off more than you can chew. Do everyone a favor though and just quit so someone who can actually do it can take your place.”

“You’ve got a lot of nerve to try to tell me what to do,” Daichi growled. “Who do you even think you are? You don’t know anything about me. I—”

“I don’t need to know anything about you to be able to tell that you’re just a whiny, privileged, baby who probably still sucks on his Mommy’s ti—”

Daichi released a roar of fury and vaulted at Sugawara. His fist flashed out and connected with his cheekbone, sending him flying onto his back. Daichi came down on top of him and grabbed a fistful of Sugawara’s uniform shirt. He cocked his fist back and punched him again.

Sugawara clenched his teeth and deflected Daichi’s third strike, legs kicking wildly against his spine. He managed to buck the larger boy off of him and followed, throwing a punch of his own. His knuckles crushed against Daichi’s eyebrow and before he could recover, he punched again, with his left hand, clocking him in the nose.

Sugawara got his feet underneath him and launched himself forward. Their bodies crashed together and rolled across the harsh surface of the roof. Daichi shoved a hand against Sugawara’s chin and pushed him away. He cracked his fist against his nose and Sugawara bit down hard on his index finger.

Daichi cried out and Sugawara growled.

They continued to roll, dirtying their uniforms and dealing damage to the other’s face and body, until they were both gasping for breath.

Sugawara kneed Daichi in the ribs and rolled on top of him, gripping his shirt in both bruised and bloody fists. He panted, mouth gaping open, over him for a few seconds as Daichi glared back up at him, in much of the same disheveled and breathless state. Sugawara gulped, tongue rolling over his bottom lip, which was already starting to swell. A drop of blood trickled out of Daichi’s left nostril and his nose scrunched.

“You’re a fucking—”

Sugawara leaned down, cutting the words off with a sudden, frantic kiss.

Daichi didn’t react at first, but then his arms wrapped around his waist and he tugged him closer, head lifting off of the ground to press into the kiss eagerly. The connection was slightly painful, but Sugawara ignored the stinging in his lip and thrust his tongue into Daichi’s mouth.

A full minute of the desperate kissing passed before Sugawara finally pulled away for air. Daichi’s head fell back, his eyes closed as he panted.

"So..." Sugawara gasped. “Do you feel better?”

Daichi’s eyes cracked open and he peered up at him in confusion.

“What?”

“Did that relieve some of the stress?”

Daichi blinked. Then realization turned his features slack.

“Holy shit,” he whispered.

Sugawara’s lips curled.

“You pissed me off on purpose.”

“Was it as good for you as it was for me?”

“Holy shit.”

Sugawara laughed and pushed up on his arms. A lock of hair fell into his vision and he smirked coyly.

“I’ll take that as a _yes_.”

Daichi stared up at him wordlessly for several seconds. Then, his lips twitched. He pressed a hand over his forehead and let out a loud burst of laughter. The sound was full, deep, and all encompassing. Soon, Sugawara couldn’t help but join in and he rolled to his back next to him. They laughed until they couldn’t breathe, and then they spent another minute panting and hiccupping, elbowing each other whenever the other would lose control and start the other up with helpless giggling.

Finally, when they managed to calm down, Sugawara closed his eyes, smiling softly. A breeze ruffled his hair and the sun warmed his face, almost making him forget the pain that had come from Daichi’s fists.

Then, a soft voice stirred him from his doze.

“Thanks.”

Sugawara’s hand slid over until their pinkies brushed.

“That'll be ten thousand yen, please.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ehhhh I'm not totally satisfied with this one but oh well.  
> I'll do better next time.
> 
> Come yell at me on [Tumblr.](http://mooifyourecows.tumblr.com/)


	5. Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An unexpected reunion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is actually the beginning of a full length fic I've started as a gift to my good friend Abby. I have no idea when I'll actually be able to continue/finish it, but I hope I'm able to do it well.

Several thoughts flit through a person’s head in the panicked moments after being awoken by the sounds of someone breaking in to his room in the middle of the night.

Was he just hearing things? Did he leave the door unlocked? Was he being robbed? What if it was a murderer? Did he have anything nearby that he could use as a weapon with which to defend himself? Did one of his housemates just come home drunk and stumble into the wrong room?

Despite the various panicked thoughts that flew through his mind following the telltale clicking and thumping from across his room, one that never occurred to him was the possibility that the intruder tip toeing in his direction where he lay frozen in his futon in the center of the room was a man Daichi had not spoken to since the end of their first year of high school. A man whose existence he only caught through glimpses of his face on the television screen, on billboards all across the city, in magazines and everywhere, everywhere, everywhere that Daichi looked except directly in front of him, face to face.

Somehow it just never occurred to Daichi that the intruder was the one and only, Sweetheart of the Silver Screen, Japan’s most eligible bachelor, Sugawara Koushi.

Surprisingly that thought just never crossed his mind.

Which made it all the more shocking when the pale moonlight cast a glow over the fine silver hair, longer now though just as unruly as he remembered, atop the head of the form gliding in his direction, silent with grace.

The intruder crept closer and closer to his futon but it couldn’t be him. It couldn’t be him, could it? It had to be a trick of the light, a hallucination, or a dream. Because it just wasn’t possible that Sugawara Koushi was in his room now, seven years after Daichi had last seen him.

He continued to stare in disbelief, waiting for the mirage to disappear or for him to wake from his dream. But instead, as he lay frozen, the shadowy form of what couldn’t- just _couldn’t-_ be Sugawara Koushi reached his futon and walked over it until his feet framed Daichi’s hips. Daichi held his breath, not daring to speak. The room was dim enough that he still couldn’t make out the intruder’s face as he loomed over him, but Daichi could never forget that hair.

The form dropped to his knees and hands pressed into the pillow on either side of Daichi’s face.

Daichi’s breath escaped past his lips and his muscles tensed. He stared wide-eyed up into the intruder’s face- and it couldn’t be, it just _couldn’t be_ \- as he leaned close.

“I did knock,” he spoke and Daichi’s heart skidded nearly to a stop because he could never forget that voice.

It _was_ \- it _was him_.

“Su—”

Cool fingers covered his mouth and Sugawara hummed.

“Let me crash here for a little,” he said, voice rough with what sounded like days of lack of sleep. “Okay?”

Daichi’s eyes widened.

“Just a little.” He sighed and leaned down until their foreheads touched. “Thanks.”

Daichi floundered, heart thudding in his chest, skin warming until he was sure his blanket would catch fire.

“Su-Suga… what… what are you…”

Sugawara’s head lifted slightly and his body rolled next to him on the futon. He wiggled underneath the blanket and tucked himself against Daichi’s side, one arm snaking around his bare waist.

“Good night,” he mumbled and rested his head on Daichi’s shoulder.

Daichi was silent for long seconds, staring up at the ceiling with wide eyes. When he finally managed to swallow the lump in his throat and remember how to speak again, he only got one rough, “Why…” out before Sugawara’s rumbling snores cut him off and he fell silent once more.

Unsure of what to do, and not completely positive that he wasn’t dreaming anyway, Daichi merely stared up at the ceiling for what felt like an hour until the shock faded away to exhausted acceptance and he allowed his eyes to slide shut and for sleep to take him once more.

Be it dream or reality, Daichi decided he’d deal with it in the morning.

* * *

 

“Hey Sa’amura…”

Daichi leaned against the counter in between Kuroo and Bokuto, whisking eggs in a bowl.

“Did you go out last night?” Kuroo asked.

“No.”

“No?”

“No.”

“But…” Kuroo blinked slowly and Daichi lifted his eyes in the direction of his, and everybody else’s, as they stared across the kitchen, where Sugawara Koushi hummed cheerily and tottered around the coffee maker, pushing buttons and lifting lids and very clearly not having any idea what he was doing.

“So you’re saying you didn’t go get super drunk at a bar, seduce the country’s most eligible bachelor, bring him back home, and fuck his brains out while we were sleeping?” Tendou lifted his mug of coffee to his lips and sipped slowly, resting an elbow on Bokuto’s shoulder as the latter continued to stare, entranced, at the clueless celebrity on the other side of their shared kitchen.

“I was already in bed while you jackasses were still on your first game last night,” Daichi said, watching Sugawara suddenly flounder over the water that poured from the coffee maker. He grabbed a bowl from the counter and thrust it under the stream, humming turning nervous and frantic. “By the way,” Daichi said, still whisking. “Who won?”

“Who do you think?” Kuroo grunted and ran his fingers through his unruly black hair.

“The only one not in a bad mood, I guess,” Daichi glanced at Iwaizumi on the other side of Kuroo where he drank his coffee with only a mildly curious expression, watching Sugawara struggle with a small tick to the corner of his mouth.

“It’s our fault,” Bokuto mumbled in a daze. “For thinking we’d ever have a chance to beat Iwaizumi in poker.”

“Without Dai-chan there to call his bluff, he’s unstoppable,” Tendou agreed.

Daichi snorted and stepped up to the kitchen island. He set the bowl of eggs down next to the stove top and stirred the sizzling vegetables sautéing in the pan there.

“Hey Daichi.” Bokuto remained at his side, leaning close to his ear, though his eyes stayed centered on Sugawara, who was now trading the bowl for another, humming now unhappy and low.

“What is it?” Daichi turned off the heat on the vegetables and added diced tomato and spinach to the pan.

“If you didn’t go out last night and get drunk out of your mind so that all of your better judgment was out of commission… why…”

Daichi glanced at Sugawara and called, “Suga. If you want coffee, Iwaizumi will make you a fresh pot.”

Sugawara jumped at the sudden sound of his voice and whirled towards them, holding a bowl of steaming water in his hands.

“Oh! Haha!” His cheeks flushed bright pink. “Sorry! Uhh… It’s… uhm… it’s been a long time since I made my own coffee…”

Iwaizumi set his mug aside and joined him at the coffee maker. He took the bowls and emptied them in the sink before going about brewing a new pot. Sugawara watched him closely, knotting his hands in the front of his- actually _Daichi’s-_ shirt.

Kuroo and Tendou leapt forward and slammed into Daichi’s back, almost making him throw the pan lid as he moved to place it over the vegetables.

“Alright _spill it_ ,” Kuroo hissed into his ear, hands circling his bicep.

“ _Spill it, spill it, spill it,_ ” Tendou urged, poking him in the spine.

“Why is Sugawara Koushi in our kitchen?” Bokuto reached for a sizzling sausage in another pan and Daichi swatted his hand away.

“And why are you calling him _Suga_ , as if you _know each other?_ ” Kuroo’s fingers tightened almost painfully around his arm.

“ _And why is he wearing your clothes?_ ” Tendou continued to poke and prod, making that tendon in Daichi’s forehead begin to throb.

“Tell the truth, Sa’amura,” Kuroo demanded. “You two boned, didn’t you? You two totally _boned_.”

“Get off me.” Daichi shook them off and heated up another pan. “We didn’t _bone_. I’m telling you, I’m just as confused as you guys are. The dude just _showed up in my room last night_.”

“But that doesn’t make any sense!” Bokuto tried once more for a sausage and this time Daichi stabbed his hand with a chopstick. “What would someone like Sugawara Koushi want with _you_? With _our_ Daichi? Do you owe him money? Are you two related? Did you save his life one day and he’s here to pay back the debt?”

“Did you guys bone?” Kuroo asked again.

“Ask me that one more time and you’re not eating.” Daichi added butter to the new pan and spread it around. “And I fucking told you. I don’t know shit. If you want answers, ask _him._ ”

“Okay but why did you call him _Suga_?” Tendou wrapped his arms around Daichi’s waist and hugged him from behind, leaning his chin on his shoulder. “Why does it sound like you two know each other?”

Daichi didn’t reply.

Which was apparently more scandalous than if he had.

“Ooooooo,” all three of them started hissing and poking at him.

Iwaizumi joined them a second later, glancing over his shoulder at Sugawara, who waited patiently next to the coffee maker as it percolated, a fresh mug clutched in his hands.

“ _Spill it, spill it, spill it,”_ the three pestering Daichi started to chant and Iwaizumi leaned on his elbows on the island and turned his attention to him as well.

Daichi groaned and rolled his shoulders and arms, trying unsuccessfully to shed the pests from his body. Finally he stomped a bare foot on the wooden floor and growled, “ _Fine! Just shush for a second and I’ll tell you!”_

They fell silent, finally dutiful, and waited.

He sighed and poured a portion of the egg mixture into the newly heated and buttered pan.

“Okay,” he mumbled, sure to keep his voice soft enough that Sugawara couldn’t hear from where he was. “It’s really not that interesting though. We just went to school together.”

“What school? How old were you? Was he famous yet?” Bokuto pressed.

“I met him when we were first years in high school,” Daichi said. “We were in the same class. Played volleyball together.” He gulped and stared down at the eggs as they cooked. “Then, he just disappeared over the summer, without a word. Just… vanished. Next thing I knew, mom started watching a new melodrama and there he was, playing the leading role.”

“You two didn’t stay in contact after he left?” Iwaizumi asked.

Daichi gritted his teeth.

“Apparently we weren’t close enough to stay in contact.”

The four other men fell silent and Daichi added vegetables to the eggs, putting all his concentration into what he was doing and _not_ on the man humming once more across the kitchen, pouring freshly brewed coffee into his mug.

“And now he’s just… _here_?” Kuroo’s hands finally loosened around Daichi’s bicep. “Just showed up? Without even giving you a call? Like, _Hey Sa’amura, remember me? I’m in the neighborhood and thought we could catch up, meet you at your place?_ ”

Daichi folded the omelet with a scowl. “Guess the guy never learned how to give people a warning before he disappears or shows up out of the blue.”

“It’s so _weird_ ,” Tendou muttered, still hugging him from behind. “Maybe he’s running from the Yakuza.”

“If you haven’t spoken in years, then how did he even find where you live?” Iwaizumi nicked a sausage from the pan and bit into it. Bokuto let out a cry of complaint.

“Maybe he’s a creepy stalker,” Kuroo whispered.

Daichi let out a huff of breath and lifted the folded omelet on his spatula. He raised his voice and barked, “Plates! Who’s first?”

The others were instantly scrambling, darting across the kitchen to the cupboards to grab plates and make it back to the island.

Bokuto made it to Daichi’s side first and Daichi dropped the omelet onto his plate before also adding several sausages.

“Damn it,” Tendou dropped his plate on the counter and Daichi poured more eggs into the pan for the next omelet.

Bokuto giggled happily and moved around the island to where Daichi had laid out sliced fruit.

“Hey.” Daichi pointed his spatula at him. “Don’t eat all the mangoes this time.  Those fuckers are expensive.”

Bokuto pouted and shoveled fruit onto his plate.

Sugawara wandered up to them, clutching his now full mug in both hands. His soft brown eyes slowly surveyed the others, lingering on Bokuto’s droopy white hair and Tendou’s sour expression.

“So you guys all live together?” Sugawara asked.

“Last time I checked,” Tendou quipped, watching him with narrow eyes.

Sugawara eyed their surroundings. “So like… did you all go in on this place or something?”

“Sa’amura owns the place,” Kuroo said, patting Daichi’s shoulder. “We’re just his tenants.”

“Oh, so you guys aren’t like… all friends who met in college and decided to shack up together?”

“First time I met Dai-chan was the day I was moving in,” Bokuto said with a full mouth, chewing sloppily. “Saw the ad in the newspaper. Room was cheap. Landlord promised to cook and clean everything other than my room… sounded like a good deal.”

“Until you meet the neighbors,” Iwaizumi grunted and sipped his coffee.

“Hey.” Kuroo draped himself over Iwaizumi’s shoulders. “You love us and you know it.”

“Would love you more if I couldn’t hear you rubbing one out through the walls every night.”

“I don’t do it _every_ night.”

“You do,” Tendou muttered and examined his fingernails. “It makes it really hard to get myself off when all I can hear is you moaning your own name as you come.”

Kuroo lifted his chin. “Well I’m the one pleasuring myself so it’s only natural I’d say my own name. Not like there’s anyone else’s name to say.”

“You _could_ just keep your mouth shut,” Daichi muttered and added vegetables to the new omelet.

“I’m a passionate man, Sa’amura.”

Daichi glared at him.

Sugawara giggled and leaned his elbows on the island. “So none of you knew each other before moving in here?”

“Well I knew Bo.” Kuroo pointed at Bokuto. “We were sorta rivals in high school.”

“He’s in love with me,” Bokuto said, and a piece of spinach flopped out of his mouth.

“If that were true, then I’d have another name to call out whenever I jack it.”

“Don’t you?” Tendou’s eyes twinkled. “Don’t think we’ve forgotten that time we all heard you scream, _Oh Sawamura! Yes, yes Sawamura!_ ”

Bokuto sputtered and bowed over his plate, pounding his fist into the countertop.

Iwaizumi grinned but hid it behind his mug.

Daichi’s nose scrunched and he folded the omelet and transferred it over to Tendou’s plate.

“Hey that wasn’t my fault!” Kuroo straightened, cheeks tinting pink. “I was drunk and he walked past my door in nothing but underwear! What else was I supposed to do?”

“Not masturbate to the guy who could evict you,” Daichi grumbled and started on the next omelet while Tendou helped himself to the sausages and then joined Bokuto at the fruit.

“Well then maybe you should stop having a nice ass and thighs I wouldn’t mind having wrapped around my face.” Kuroo lifted his chin.

“I’ll get right on that.” Daichi rolled his eyes. He glanced at Sugawara, who had fallen silent. His lips were pressed tight in a thin line and he glared into his coffee, brows furrowed.

“Daichi where’s the ketchup?” Bokuto drew his attention away and he sighed.

“Look for it yourself,” he said. “Why do I have to do everything around here?”

Iwaizumi went to the refrigerator and fetched the ketchup before returning to the island and tossing it at Bokuto.

“So, Sugawara,” he said, eyeing the other man down the length of his nose. “No point beating around the bush any longer. What’s a big hotshot like you doing here in our humble home?”

Daichi’s chest warmed at the word _home_ , but he hid his smile by ducking his head. Not that it mattered, Tendou and Bokuto were already cooing at him, as they usually did when he accidentally showed his contentment at hearing others refer to his place so fondly. He cleared his throat and glared at them.

“Oh…” Sugawara set his mug on the counter. “Well… uhm…”

Everyone stared at him quietly, waiting for an answer he was obviously reluctant to give.

Finally, he lifted his head and grinned a wide, bright smile.

“I just needed a little vacation! I’m in between jobs so thought I’d take some time to relax and recharge, you know?”

“Ehhh, but you’re like, super rich, right?” Tendou squirted ketchup all over his omelet and Daichi’s eyelid twitched. “Why would you want to vacation here when you could like, I dunno. Fly to a private island or something?”

Sugawara’s eyes flicked up in Daichi’s direction and then away.

“No reason,” he said. “Just wanted to try something new, I guess.”

Daichi reached around Kuroo to drop an omelet on Iwaizumi’s plate. He swallowed, trying desperately to ignore the aching rage of his pulse beneath his skin.

_Stop that._

There was no way he was going to reawaken these old feelings. Not when he had tried so hard to bury them all those years ago.

_Just go back to sleep._

_There’s nothing here for you._

“No fair! Sa’amura, I was next in line!” Kuroo let out a loud whine, drawing him thankfully back to the present.

“You’re being punished,” Daichi said and began the next omelet.

“For what?”

“Jacking off to me.”

Kuroo slumped up next to him and groaned. “It’s a compliment! You should be flattered!”

“In what universe would I ever be flattered to hear some disgusting drunk guy screaming my name in the middle of the night while I’m trying to sleep?” Daichi leaned away when Kuroo’s hands reached for his face.

“C’mon, c’mon Sa’amura-kyun.” Kuroo wrapped his arms around Daichi’s shoulders and hauled him against his chest. “You can jack off to me and I won’t even mind.”

“How generous,” Daichi muttered and wiggled his arms out of his grasp in order to scoop vegetables into the eggs.

“Did Daichi tell you guys that we went to high school together?” Sugawara suddenly blurted out.

Everyone looked at him. His cheeks were red and he pushed his hair over one ear with a trembling hand, eyes darting from Daichi and Kuroo to the others.

“Yeah,” Bokuto said. “He mentioned it. That’s cool! You guys played volleyball together?”

“We did!” Sugawara perked. “I was a setter and he was a wing spiker. We were a good duo! Not that we got to play much, since the third and second years were way better than us…”

Kuroo released Daichi and leaned on the island.

“Does this mean you have embarrassing stories about Dai-chan to share with us?” Tendou asked.

“Yeah! Oh my god there was this one time when—”

“Let’s not talk about that sort of thing,” Daichi interrupted. He placed the omelet onto Kuroo’s plate and the lanky man cheered and joined the others around the fruit. Daichi pointed at a cupboard behind him. “Suga go get a plate.”

Sugawara pursed his lips and left his coffee on the island to do as he said.

Daichi discarded the remaining vegetables into a bowl and added new ones, minus mushrooms, to the pan.

“So Sugawara, what’s it like being a super famous celebrity and all?” Bokuto asked, reaching for yet another mango, just to be blocked by Iwaizumi’s chopsticks.

“Uhm…” Sugawara stood at Daichi’s side and Daichi cursed the sudden leap of his heart at the proximity. “It’s alright, I guess.”

“I’ll bet the paychecks are more than alright,” Tendou said, not even disguising his envy. “Think how much anime merch I could buy with just one of those paychecks.”

“Forget the money,” Kuroo said. “Think about how much _ass_ this guy probably gets on the daily.”

Bokuto snorted. “Yeah, for every time you’re slappin’ your own meat, I’ll bet he has three people begging to do it for him.”

Daichi pressed his lips tight and stirred the vegetables. Sugawara didn’t speak.

“Yo if I were famous, I’d be taking a new person to bed _every_ night,” Kuroo went on.

“Ugh, I feel sick just thinking about how dirty your dick would get,” Tendou sneered.

“Worth it, honestly.”

Daichi lifted his eyes and met Iwaizumi’s gaze as the other man stared steadily at him from across the island. Daichi gulped and Iwaizumi turned to the others.

“If you guys don’t shut up, I’m going to kick your asses,” he growled.

“Oof. C’mon, Iwaizumi, we’re just bantering,” Kuroo said.

“If I have to hear about your dick for another second, I’m going to lose my appetite.”

“Harsh, but I’ll allow it.”

“Hey, Sugawara!” Bokuto drew their attention. “You’re in that one big Hollywood movie, right?”

“You’re going to have to be more specific than that,” Sugawara said with a smile.

“The one with Chris Hemsworth!”

Kuroo and Tendou oohed and ahhed, chiming in their approval.

“Oh,” Sugawara’s cheeks reddened. “Yeah, well… I didn’t really have a huge role in that one…”

“But you got to meet _Chris Hemsworth_ ,” Bokuto repeated, golden eyes going wide. “He’s like… the biggest hunk ever! What was he like? Was he super nice?”

Sugawara hesitated, then leaned heavily against the counter. “He was _so nice_. Oh my god and _so hot._ Like holy shit I felt like a toddler next to him, he was _huge_. And he complimented my acting and I swear I almost swooned like a damn maiden. I had to go sit down for like twenty minutes.” Sugawara popped back up off of the counter. “Oh! And in that one scene that we do together, he had to grab me and move me out of the way of a bullet, right? Well we didn’t practice beforehand and he underestimated how much I weighed and lost his balance and _fell on top of me and I thought I was going to die but I was also pretty sure I was in heaven it was amazing_. I kept purposefully messing up my lines and ruining the scene so that he would have to grab me over and over again. You should’ve seen the director, he was getting so pissed.” Sugawara laughed. “But Chris was super nice about it. And he said, like in that really sexy accent of his, he was like, _It’s alright. You’re doing great. We can redo it as many times as it takes. I’ve got a lot of stamina._ ”

Kuroo, Bokuto, and Tendou all erupted in squeals, slapping each other’s arms in excitement.

“It was amazing,” Sugawara said with a sigh. “One of my favorite roles.”

“But didn’t you die in the end?” Tendou chewed on a strawberry and Daichi glared when Bokuto’s hand crept towards the bowl of mangoes once again.

“Yeah but I mean… _Chris Hemsworth_.”

“Can’t argue with that.” Kuroo yanked Bokuto’s arm away.

“So if that was _one_ of your favorite roles,” Iwaizumi said. “What was your favorite?”

Sugawara fell silent and Daichi poured eggs into the pan and glanced at him in the corner of his eye. His gaze was downcast to his plate, and he chewed his bottom lip.

“I doubt any of you have seen it,” he finally said. “It was a little Indie film. Didn’t even go to theaters, or even get advertised much. Was one of my first actual movie roles after graduating from TV.”

“Ohh? That sounds interesting! What was it called?” Bokuto asked.

“I don’t think you’d like it.”

“Ehh, why not?”

“Well, it’s kinda… artsy fartsy. Low budget.”

“Well it’d still be fun to watch—”

“Bokuto, I’ll trade you two mango slices for your sausage,” Iwaizumi interrupted.

“ _DEAL!_ ” Bokuto practically threw his last remaining sausage across the counter.

Daichi finished up Sugawara’s omelet and slid it onto his plate. Sugawara eyed it silently for a moment, and then glanced at the bowl of vegetables that Daichi set aside for his own omelet, which he started on next.

“Something wrong?” Daichi asked.

“No…” Sugawara paused. “It’s just…”

Daichi cocked an eyebrow.

“What? You still hate mushrooms, right?”

“Yeah.”

Daichi nodded and transferred sausages onto the plate.

“I can’t believe you remembered that,” Sugawara mumbled.

Daichi eyed him for another second and turned away.

“Yeah well, guess I have a good memory.”

Sugawara hesitated for another moment and then walked around the island to the fruit. Tendou moved to the side to give him room to stand next to Bokuto and fill his plate.

Daichi watched him discreetly as he finished cooking and then joined them to eat. For the rest of breakfast, Bokuto and the others continued to drill Sugawara with various questions about his life as a celebrity, asking about certain actors or actresses that he met or locations in which he filmed.

Daichi continued to stare at the other man, still reeling over the fact that he was there, and their strange meeting the night before had not been a dream after all. It was really happening. Sugawara Koushi, Sweetheart of the Silver Screen, was in his kitchen. Was eating food that Daichi cooked. Was wearing Daichi’s shirt and sweats, too big for his smaller frame.

He was there, suddenly in Daichi’s life again after seven years and Daichi just didn’t know how he felt about it.

If there was some sort of explanation, or even a guarantee that he wouldn’t disappear again, maybe Daichi would be happy. But he couldn’t help that sour feeling in the pit of his stomach that warned him not to get his hopes up.

_He’ll just leave again._

_Don’t expect anything out of this._

There was no telling _why_ Sugawara was there. Or even how he knew this was where Daichi lived.

But Daichi wasn’t going to hope for something that he spent the past seven years convincing himself would never happen. He didn’t know if he was strong enough to go through the process of crushing his own spirit all over again.

When breakfast was over, Bokuto tugged Sugawara’s hand out of the kitchen, announcing loudly,

“C’mon Sugawara! I’ll give you a tour of the place!”

The others followed after him and Daichi called,

“Is no one going to help me clean up?”

Iwaizumi tossed him a peace sign over his shoulder as he disappeared through the archway.

And Daichi was alone.

“Jackasses,” he muttered and collected the dirty dishes.

Across the house, he could hear Bokuto’s excited shouting and following shortly after, Sugawara’s gleeful laughter.

For a moment, Daichi stood at the sink with his eyes closed, allowing the light peals of melodic laughter sweep over him as the morning sun through the window warmed his face and something else, something unwelcome that was supposed to remain dormant inside him, warmed his chest.

But he wouldn’t get his hopes up.

Not again.

The others reappeared just as he finished cleaning.

"Daichi! Daichi! Listen to this!" Bokuto exploded in glee, hauling Sugawara with him. "We've made a very important decision!"

"Oh yeah?" Daichi didn't like the sound of that. He glanced warily at the others, who smirked and crowded behind them, other than Iwaizumi, who leaned on the wall with his arms crossed over his chest, watching Daichi closely.

Daichi looked back to Bokuto and Sugawara, the latter's cheeks were bright pink and he was smiling shyly.

"What did you decide?" Daichi asked.

Sugawara and Bokuto looked at each other.

"You should tell him," Bokuto urged.

Sugawara turned to him and Daichi's chest tightened in expectation.

"I'm gonna move in!"

Daichi's heart leapt as dread hit the pit of his stomach like a hammer falling. And he was suddenly faced with the realization that there was no way, no way in  _hell_ that his traitorous hope, which he had tried so hard to keep in place, would ever stay down now.

"Oh."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Love ya, Abby <3
> 
> Come yell at me on [Tumblr.](http://mooifyourecows.tumblr.com/)


	6. Tattoos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daichi's earned his frequent flyers discount.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this... has no direction  
> oops

He was back.

Again.

Don't get Sugawara wrong, he loved having his first and only regular client at his small tattoo shop.

But Sawamura Daichi was quickly killing him.

“Is it Walk-ins Wednesday already?” Sugawara stood from where he had been reading the paper on the couch at the front of the shop and headed for his work station, gesturing for Daichi to follow him.

“Sorry,” Daichi said with a sheepish smile. “Are you free?”

“I’m always free for my favorite client,” Sugawara sang and plopped down in his chair. He patted the leather seat in front of him. “So what are we doing today?”

Daichi sat and leaned back. He folded his hands over his stomach and hummed, staring up at the ceiling.

Sugawara ran his eyes up his bare arms, admiring the ink he had placed there himself over the course of the past few months. A sense of pride swelled in his chest at the sight of the myriad of colors and swooping black lines. It was a canvas of only his own personal art, a testament to his skill and passion as an artist all in one place.

Sugawara reached out and ran a finger over a mountain peak on the warm, smooth flesh of Daichi’s bicep. Goosebumps immediately rose to the surface of his skin and Sugawara smiled.

“This healed well,” he said in a soft voice. “You always take such good care of them.”

Daichi cleared his throat. “Well… it’d be a shame to let such beauty go to waste.”

Sugawara grinned and punched his arm. “Smooth talker! Is it a discount you’re after? Eh?”

Daichi rubbed the offended area. “Of course not. It’s just the truth.”

Sugawara leaned his elbows on the soft leather of the chair at Daichi’s hip. Daichi tensed at the proximity and Sugawara smirked up into his face.

“Yeah, well, you’re probably due for a frequent flyer’s discount anyway. I think you single handedly paid off my car.”

Daichi laughed. “Glad to be of service.”

Sugawara smiled fondly.

“So what are we doing today?” He sat up and pushed Daichi’s t-shirt sleeve up over his shoulder. “We completely covered both of your arms now. Got an idea for a new location?”

“Uhm… I was thinking maybe my legs?”

Sugawara looked at his right calf, toned and tanned.

“We could do that. Shin? Calf?”

Daichi hesitated. “Thigh?”

_Oh yes please._

Sugawara’s gaze slid up to the loose fabric of Daichi’s black exercise shorts. He hummed and placed a hand on his knee. He smoothed it up under the shorts, pushing the fabric up to his hip, palm coasting over his hot skin. His fingers pressed into the muscles and he tried not to let the appreciation for the man’s thick form show on his face.

“There’s definitely room,” Sugawara mused, staring down at the bronzed thigh.

Daichi coughed and Sugawara glanced up into his face, complexion red as he avoided his gaze.

“Uh… uhm. On second tho-thought. Maybe my chest?”

Sugawara smirked and folded his hands under his chin.

“Alright. So what do you have in mind?”

Daichi was silent for a moment. He looked at Sugawara and then said, “You choose.”

Sugawara’s eyebrows lifted. “Me?”

“Yeah… I trust you. Is there a design you’ve been wanting to use?”

Sugawara slowly straightened. “Wait… seriously? You’ll let me tattoo whatever I want on you? Anything?”

“I know your work well enough now to know that no matter what you do, it’ll be extraordinary.”

Sugawara gulped. Sudden giddiness filled him and he thrust to his feet.

“ _Wait right here!_ ”

He spun and sprinted across the shop to his office. He exploded inside and went to his file cabinet. He ripped it open and grabbed a thick red folder. He slammed the drawer shut again and dropped the file on his desk. He opened it, hands shaking in excitement as he started shuffling through the numerous abandoned tattoo designs that were stored inside. He found the one he was looking for and ran back out into the shop. Daichi was sitting up on the chair, legs hanging over the side as he waited, hands clasped in his lap.

Sugawara went directly up to him and pushed his arms out of his way. He grabbed the hem of his shirt and yanked it up to his chin. Daichi straightened in surprise, but didn’t protest.

Sugawara didn’t waste time appreciating the hard cuts of the man’s chest and instead pressed the tattoo design over his left pectoral. He released a deep breath, lips curling into a wide smile.

“ _It’s perfect…_ ”

Daichi peered down at the design, reaching up to hold his shirt in Sugawara’s place.

“A raven?”

“It’s perfect for you,” Sugawara said, almost breathless as he smoothed the paper against Daichi’s chest, scrutinizing the lines. The raven’s wings were outstretched, the feathers full like the leaves of a tree. Its legs transitioned into a trunk which flowed into an intricate root system. Within the raven’s body were the silhouettes of branches. “My idea was that the background would be watercolors. Purples and blues and greens. The raven would be black, but I was thinking not a complete inky black. Maybe black like the night sky? Some galaxy details, though darker so it would stand out against the watercolor background. The branches and trunk would be more reds and oranges, maybe with a geometric type pattern, or like a splattered effect or…” he dwindled out, eyes wandering up into Daichi’s face.

He stared down at the design quietly, face unreadable.

Sugawara gulped and pulled the paper away.

“I have others,” he said, voice losing some of the giddiness from before. “If this one is too… much. I know it sounds like a mess—”

“I want it.”

Sugawara blinked.

Daichi lifted his gaze to him, a fierce look in his eyes.

“I want it,” he said again, voice firmer. “I need it. Can I have it?”

Sugawara’s heart leapt, his chest warmed.

“You really want it?”

Daichi ran a hand through his hair. “I… Suga, holy _shit._ I can’t believe you’ve been going along with my shitty ideas all this time when you had something like _that_ just sitting around…”

Sugawara laughed. “Your ideas aren’t shitty!” He set the drawing aside and took Daichi’s left arm. He lifted it and fondly traced the curve of a vibrant hot air balloon on his forearm. Warm contentment filled his belly and he smiled. “I’ve genuinely loved tattooing each and every one of these. I remember them all as if I did them yesterday.” He trailed his fingers to his shoulder, moving the shirt sleeve out of his way to display an intricate compass rose. He giggled. “You almost started crying when I was working on the west notch of this one because it was so close to your armpit.”

“Hey, I didn’t almost cry.”

“You had tears in your eyes!” Sugawara laughed. He took his other hand and lifted it. “And this…” He stroked his thumb over the moth tattooed onto the back of his wrist. “Was the very first one I did on you. I was surprised when you told me that it was a moth that you wanted. The first time I saw you, I thought for sure you’d want a lion or a skull or something badass like that. Maybe a vintage pin-up.” He snickered. “But you wanted a moth. Something so delicate and beautiful…”

Daichi was silent for a moment. Then his hand gripped Sugawara’s and their gazes met.

“Can I tell you a secret?” Daichi whispered.

Sugawara’s pulse quickened. “A secret?”

Daichi hesitated, the apples of his cheeks tinting an adorable shade of pink. “I went in that day for something else.”

Sugawara smiled and cocked his head to the side. “What did you want?”

Daichi seemed reluctant to answer.

“Oh c’mon, don’t leave me hanging,” Sugawara complained, poking him in the cheek. “Tell me!”

Daichi cringed. “A shark.”

Sugawara stared at him for a moment. Then he let out a bark of laughter.

“Why are you embarrassed to tell me that?” he asked. “Sharks are cool!”

“Yeah well that’s not really the embarrassing part of it.”

“Then what is?”

Daichi refused to meet his eyes, but he kept a firm hold on his hand. “I was completely determined to get a shark. I thought about it for a long time. My grandpa worked at an aquarium and I used to visit him and just stare for hours at the shark tank.”

Sugawara smiled at the cute image of a young Daichi enraptured by the aquatic creatures.

“But all that planning and determination was erased in a single second…” His eyes flicked up to Sugawara and then away. “The second I saw your hair.”

Sugawara blinked. “My… hair?”

Daichi reached up and rubbed at his forehead, avoiding his gaze. “Yeah… the ashy grey color… it was so pretty to me... it reminded me of moth wings.”

Sugawara looked down at the moth, remembering the way Daichi had stammered over his explanation of what he wanted, unable to hold eye contact with him the entire conversation.

“Ah…” Sugawara lifted Daichi’s hand and gently pressed his forehead against the moth, skin warming at the connection. “I love it so much more now…”

“Suga, I’ll be honest with you. I never intended to get more than one tattoo in my life.”

Sugawara peered up at him in shock.

Daichi met his eyes for one second and then looked away once more.

“But I really needed a reason to see you again. And again. And again…” His voice lowered and finally he met and held his gaze, deep brown eyes unwavering. “After a while I realized I had an addiction. To the ink… and to the one putting it into my skin.”

“Oh thank fuck.” Sugawara released Daichi’s and quickly cupped his face. “Then I don’t have to hold myself back anymore.” He kissed him eagerly on the lips, breath short with giddiness at finally giving in to the urge that had plagued him for the past few months.

Daichi’s hands gripped his waist and he accepted and returned the kiss.

“Suga,” he whispered when they parted. “I want to be covered in your colors.”

Sugawara stared into his eyes quietly.

“Every inch of me,” Daichi said.

Sugawara kissed him again, slow and soft.

“Well I’ve never tattooed a dick before but I’ll do my best.”

“Okay. Not every inch.”

"Boo..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't have time to write this before, so I did it all today. Which is my excuse as to why literally nothing happens and it ends just.... like that. lmao
> 
> Come yell at me on [Tumblr.](http://mooifyourecows.tumblr.com/)


	7. Kissing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daichi doesn't know what flirting looks like.  
> Suga offers to show him.  
> How generous.

Sugawara let out a giant sigh and tossed his bag to the floor before vaulting onto the bed.

“Thanks again for letting me stay with you,” he called, voice muffled in the bedspread. He rolled onto his back and smiled at Daichi as he followed him into the room and set his bag aside. “The rooms sold out way faster than I expected!”

“I told you to book months in advance.” Daichi removed his jacket and draped it over the desk.

“I just couldn't believe that they made it to nationals without their reliable Captain Daichi there to keep them out of trouble.”

Daichi sat on the bed and lay back next to him. “Ennoshita is a great captain. I’m sure he has no problem keeping them in line.”

Sugawara snorted. “Are we thinking about the same Karasuno?”

“It’s not the same,” Daichi said.

Sugawara fell silent.

“It’s not the same,” Daichi repeated, voice softer. “They have new first years. You, me, Asahi, Shimizu… we’re not there anymore. It’s not the same Karasuno.”

“You’re going to make me cry.”

Daichi chuckled and draped an arm over his forehead. “Sorry.”

“Anyway! Thanks for letting me crash with you, Daichi!”

He hummed. “Well, so long as you’re okay with there being only one bed…”

“The floor looks comfy!”

Daichi smiled, knowing exactly what he was going to say next.

“If you get cold down there, I’ll give you an extra blanket," Sugawara sang.

“Hell no.”

Sugawara laughed. “Oh c’mon, Daichi. You’re not going to make your guest sleep on the floor, are you?”

“Considering I was the one who paid for the room… yeah.”

“Hey! I offered to pay for half!”

“And I _accepted_ that offer.”

“Ahh, Daichi, you’re so nice to let me stay with you for free!”

Daichi rolled to his side and wrestled Sugawara into a headlock, rubbing his knuckles over his unruly grey hair.

“You damn pest,” he growled while Sugawara laughed and squirmed against him.

“Okay, okay! You can have the bed!” Sugawara pushed him away and Daichi let him go.

“How generous of you,” Daichi sneered and gave his hair one more swipe.

Sugawara giggled and folded an arm under his head, lying on his side.

“Hey Daichi,” he said. “How’s uni? Found a girlfriend yet?”

Daichi rolled his eyes. “Finding a girlfriend is the _last_ thing on my mind.”

“But it _is_ on your mind?”

Daichi flicked his nose and stacked his hands under his head. “What about you?” he asked. “Have you got yourself a girlfriend?”

“I don’t know how to talk to girls.”

Daichi laughed.

“They’re so intimidating! I told a girl I liked her hair the other week and she _yelled_ at me. Apparently she was having a bad hair day and thought I was mocking her, but how was I supposed to know that? It looked fine to me! Maybe she could tell I was just trying to sweet talk my way in front of her in line.”

“You’re a menace.” Daichi chuckled.

“I am. But you still like me anyway, right?”

“Somehow.”

Sugawara smiled. “Good.”

They were silent for a few comfortable seconds and Daichi spent the time remembering every line and curve of Sugawara’s face. It felt like ages since he was able to look at this face so close. Despite their universities being in the same city, the two never seemed to find a time when they were both free in order to meet up. Their schedules seemed determined to keep them apart at all costs. Keeping in touch through messages and video calls was fine. It was enough. They were able to talk and laugh and keep their friendship alive.

But when they were together like this...

“It’s too bad Asahi couldn’t come,” Daichi said.

Sugawara reached up and brushed a lock of pale hair over his ear. “He said he was going to stream it while he was at work. I told him we could FaceTime with him so that it’s like he’s here.”

Daichi chuckled. “He’s going to get in trouble.”

“Worth it.”

Daichi stared up at the ceiling. “Won’t argue with that. I can’t believe it’s actually been a full year. Seems like just yesterday that we were out there on the court with them.”

Sugawara hummed.

“Hey Daichi have you ever kissed anyone before?”

Daichi snorted. “What the hell, Suga? I don’t understand how your brain works.”

“It’s really not that complicated.”

“What part of volleyball made you suddenly think of kissing?”

“Hmm… it’s a lot of back and forth I suppose.”

Daichi laughed. “You’re full of it.”

“So is this your way of telling me ‘no’? You’ve never kissed anyone before?”

Daichi pursed his lips and didn’t reply.

“Oh my god.”

“Oh shut up.” Daichi rolled onto his side and mimicked his position, folding an arm under his head. “It’s not that weird.”

“It’s totally weird.”

“Fine. I take that to mean that you’ve kissed before?”

“Tons of people.”

“Wow. Playboy.”

“Not really. I just played ‘Spin the Bottle’ a couple of times in junior high.” Sugawara grinned, teeth flashing white.

Daichi laughed. “That doesn’t count!”

“Does too!”

“No way!”

“Yeah!”

“No!”

Sugawara’s nose scrunched and he punched Daichi in the chest. “Why doesn’t it count? It doesn’t matter _why_ I kissed. They’re still kisses!”

“Fine. Then the kisses my aunts used to give me when I was five count.”

“No they don’t!”

“Why not? They’re still kisses, right?”

“Ew, Daichi. It doesn’t count if it’s from your family.”

“That’s a double standard. What makes you in charge of what counts as a real kiss?”

“I changed my degree from architecture to Kiss Science.” Sugawara shrugged.

“You’re full of shit.” Daichi pushed his shoulder lightly.

Sugawara smirked, eyes glinting. “At least I’m not almost twenty and never been kissed.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that. I could find someone to kiss if I wanted to.”

“Bullshit.”

“I could.” Daichi reached up and ran a hand through his hair, sending him a crooked smirk. “I’ve got boyish good looks and charm.”

Sugawara laughed in his face. Daichi winced.

“Daichi, you haven’t had _boyish_ good looks since first year of high school,” he said with an exaggerated roll of his eyes.

“You saying I'm ugly?” Daichi poked him in the chest.

Sugawara giggled and squirmed, pushing his hand away. “No… I’m saying that you graduated into full blown _sex god_ by the time you were sixteen.”

Daichi froze, eyes widening and face warming.

“ _What?_ ”

Sugawara pressed a hand over his mouth and grinned into it. “Oops, did I say that out loud?”

“ _Sex god?_ ” Daichi repeated. “What are you… how… there’s no _way_ …”

“Oh my _god_ , Daichi.” Sugawara flicked him in the forehead. “You can’t be this clueless. You don’t remember how the girls were all over you in high school?”

“ _What?_ ”

Sugawara groaned. “Daichi! You’ve gotta be kidding me! Remember how Michimiya was _totally_ in love with you?”

Daichi’s mouth fell open. “Michimiya was _not_ in love with me.”

Sugawara stared at him with an incredulous expression for long seconds.

Daichi gulped, chest turning itchy and hot. “I mean… at least… I never realized if she was… oh what the hell…” He rubbed his eyes. “ _Seriously? I had no fucking idea…_ ”

Sugawara remained silent as Daichi shuffled through his own memories with this newfound realization.

“Oh holy shit,” he breathed. “Don’t tell me that’s what my roommate was talking about when he told me to stay away from his sister…”

“Daichi you’re an idiot.”

“How was I supposed to know?” He lowered his hands but refused to meet Sugawara’s eyes. “I just thought girls were naturally that friendly. Oh my god that study session I had with Yamada-san the other day was totally supposed to be a date, wasn’t it? No wonder she looked pissed when I brought Kita along…”

“I’ve never met someone so dumb. Even Asahi notices when he's being flirted with.”

"Well Noya makes it really obvious."

"I mean when girls flirt with him."

“I just… I didn’t…” Daichi groaned. “Why can’t people just say it plainly? Why do they have to beat around the bush?”

“Well you see, Daichi, there’s this thing called _the fear of rejection_. Maybe you’ve heard of it?” Sugawara’s voice lowered.

“But you’ll never know until you _try_ ,” Daichi argued. “There’s a fifty percent chance of success, you know? If you never take the risk though, it’s zero. It just makes sense that you would try—”

“Not everyone is as simple as you.” Sugawara reached out and poked his cheek. “Besides, that’s not entirely correct. You think it’s just fifty percent ‘yes’, fifty percent ‘no’. But for other people, it could be, twenty-five percent ‘yes’, fifty percent ‘no’, twenty-five percent ‘now what we had is completely ruined so please never talk to me again’.”

Daichi blinked, staring up at the ceiling.

“I guess… that’s a possibility…”

Sugawara snorted.

“But still.” Daichi sighed and rubbed his eyes again. “I just don’t get it. What you say is flirting, I always just thought was being polite. I need… I need people to be more obvious.”

The room filled with silence for a long minute. Daichi slowly pieced things together in his head, relabeling various interactions with his peers as _flirting._ It was so confusing to him. Where was the line? There was a girl just a week ago that had playfully laughed at the things Daichi had said and took every opportunity she could to touch him. Whether it was to lightly punch or poke him or brush her fingers against his hand.

All of those things that Sugawara did too. So was it really flirting?

“I don’t get it,” he mumbled.

Sugawara released a deep breath and Daichi glanced over at him.

“Alright,” he said, voice soft. “I’ll help you out.”

“How?” Daichi asked.

“I’ll coach you.” Sugawara pushed up on his elbow and scooted closer to him. “Lesson number one… if someone does this…” Sugawara leaned over him, resting their chests together, and cupped the side of his face.

Daichi held his breath as his lips dropped down and ever so lightly brushed over his. The touch was so soft that it tickled, and before he could really name the feeling it roused in the pit of his stomach, Sugawara put space between them once more.

“They’re probably flirting,” he finished in a voice barely above a whisper.

Daichi swallowed and said, voice rough, “Uhm… sorry. I wasn’t… I wasn’t paying attention. Could you… repeat that?”

Sugawara’s lips curved and his eyelids dipped low over his eyes.

“Troublesome student.” He kissed him again, and this time the connection was firmer, their mouths slotting together with a heat and force that spurred Daichi’s pulse into a sprint.

Sugawara broke away. “Did you get it that time?”

“Think so,” Daichi cleared his throat. “But uh… what if they… do something like…” He slid an arm around Sugawara’s waist and lifted his head to press their lips together again, fingers of his other hand tangling in the hair at the back of his head.

“Definitely flirting,” Sugawara said, breathless, when they parted.

“What about…” Daichi whispered and licked over Sugawara’s bottom lip, coaxing his mouth open. Their tongues met and slid together, tasting and stirring the growing pressure in Daichi’s lower body with every gentle stroke.

Sugawara pulled back, breath heavy and short. “Ye-yeah. That’s… I’d say that’s definitely flirting too…”

“I see…” Daichi pushed up and rolled Sugawara onto his back. He climbed on top of him, bracing his weight on his elbows, and leaned down until their noses brushed. “Then something like this is probably also…”

They kissed, long and deep, slanting their mouths together in futile attempts to meld closer together. Sugawara’s arms circled Daichi’s neck and his knees lifted on either side of his hips. All thoughts fled from Daichi’s mind and there was only Sugawara. Only his lips and his tongue and his hot, wet mouth. Only his hands gripping at the fabric of Daichi’s shirt at his shoulders and his legs squeezing his hips. There was only this man, Daichi’s best friend, and the heat and kisses they shared in the quiet hotel room.

When Daichi slipped a hand under the hem of Sugawara’s shirt and smoothed his palm up over his stomach, Sugawara pulled his lips away, tongue still tenderly lapping at Daichi’s momentarily before he grazed his chin with his teeth.

“Does this mean I can sleep in the bed?” he whispered, turning his head to the side as Daichi nipped and kissed the tender skin of his neck.

“Yeah.” Daichi said, voice hoarse with want. “Yeah.”

And he really should have seen Sugawara’s next words coming, but he was too distracted with thumbing over his nipple beneath his shirt and sucking a dark mark on the muscle between his neck and shoulder.

“Good. Let me know if you get cold on the floor.”

" _Hell no._ "

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We made it to the end!!!  
> I'm so happy I was able to put something out each day!  
> For everyone who has been following me over this past week, thank you so much!! All of your support and kind words are so so so appreciated! I hope you enjoyed my stories~
> 
> Come yell at me on [Tumblr.](http://mooifyourecows.tumblr.com/)


End file.
